steel guitar
Americannoun
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an acoustic, handheld guitar having a metal resonator and producing a wailing, variable sound.
-
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
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
At first, most of his Hawaiian steel guitar students were adults, Akaka said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
Indian musicians began adapting their own classical music for steel guitar, and in Africa, the quest to replicate the glissando effect begat a local technique dubbed “Hauyani” after the word “Hawaiian.”
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.
