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
When Malie Lyman first started studying with Akaka at age 8, he considered her to be the youngest Hawaiian steel guitar player in the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
It wasn’t until he was 14, hearing his older brother play Hawaiian music on his steel guitar at home, that Akaka’s interest in the gliding style was piqued.
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.
