sound hole

American  

noun

1. an opening in the soundboard of a musical stringed instrument, as a violin or lute, for increasing the soundboard's capacity for vibration.

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sound hole British  

noun

1. any of variously shaped apertures in the sounding board of certain stringed instruments, such as the `f' shaped holes of a violin

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Etymology

Origin of sound hole

First recorded in 1605–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sound hole

One of her eyes replaces the instrument’s sound hole — as if to suggest the possibility of a perception synthesized and expanded by love.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 22, 2022

They took an upright piano and laid it on its back so the sound hole, a small hole that exposes the strings, was upright.

From The Verge ● Nov. 8, 2019

With a broken scroll and no strings, the instrument languished in their basement until one rainy day last year, when they peeked inside the sound hole and saw elegant script scrawled across a yellowing parchment:

From Washington Times ● Mar. 3, 2018

Its narrow, hourglass body is lavishly decorated, its spruce top inlaid with ivory hearts and, around the sound hole, an intricately patterned ring of bone is engraved with leaping hares and dogs.

From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2011

They looked inside its sound hole and shook it, hard.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye