steel guitar
Americannoun
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an acoustic, handheld guitar having a metal resonator and producing a wailing, variable sound.
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a pedal steel guitar.
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a Hawaiian guitar.
noun
Etymology
Origin of steel guitar
First recorded in 1925–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tammy Wynette had it; just listen to her mourn how “the sun will never shine in Apartment #9” and your ear will catch the throb in her throat that echoes the song’s steel guitar.
From Salon ● May 15, 2026
In its rules, the academy states that traditional country recordings, among other things, employ “traditional country instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar and live drums.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2025
The Hawaiian steel guitar became a cultural force in America at the turn of the century, popularized by troupes of traveling musicians from Hawaii.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
By 1916, records of Hawaiian steel guitar were outselling every other music genre in the nation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
Line is twanging like the high string on a steel guitar as the fish rises up to the surface, pulling the skiff behind it.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
