viola1
[vee-oh-luh]
- a four-stringed musical instrument of the violin family, slightly larger than the violin; a tenor or alto violin.
- a labial organ stop of eight-foot or four-foot pitch, giving tones of a penetrating stringlike quality.
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Origin of viola1
viola2
[vahy-oh-luh, vee-, vahy-uh-]
- any plant of the genus Viola, especially a cultivated variety.Compare pansy(def 1), violet(defs 1, 2).
- a pansy, V. cornuta, cultivated as a garden plant.
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Origin of viola2
1400–50; late Middle English: violet < Latin: violet
Viola
[vahy-oh-luh, vee-, vahy-uh-]
- a female given name.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for viola
Contemporary Examples
For a pair such as Viola and Perov, who have co-created work for decades, there is also precedent for retroactive co-authorship.
Few know that I also learned the viola, but gave it up after a year.
No one thought I could play the viola—until Mr K came into my life.
(Viola, Twelfth Night, 3.4.304–305) What these plays all need, in production, is that sensitivity to the sea.
The Iron Lady actress bested frontrunner Viola Davis, who seemed a shoo-in for her turn in The Help.
Meryl Streep, ‘The Artist,’ Billy Crystal: Best Moments From 2012 Oscars (VIDEO)Shannon Donnelly
February 27, 2012
Historical Examples
Not only the Duke, but both the heroines, Viola and Olivia, love music.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
Viola, the Garibaldino, with whom he has lived for some years, calls him the Incorruptible.
Nostromo: A Tale of the SeaboardJoseph Conrad
But he promised to see old Viola and the other girl that very night.
Nostromo: A Tale of the SeaboardJoseph Conrad
I've the power to nominate whom I like, and Viola it shall be.
Nostromo: A Tale of the SeaboardJoseph Conrad
This time she showed him his second grandchild, her little Viola.
A Ghetto VioletLeopold Kompert
viola1
- a bowed stringed instrument, the alto of the violin family; held beneath the chin when played. It is pitched and tuned an octave above the cello
- any of various instruments of the viol family, such as the viola da gamba
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Word Origin
C18: from Italian viola, probably from Old Provençal viola, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to Latin vītulārī to rejoice
viola2
- any temperate perennial herbaceous plant of the violaceous genus Viola, the flowers of which have showy irregular petals, white, yellow, blue, or mauve in colourSee also violet (def. 1), pansy (def. 1)
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin: violet
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for viola
n.
tenor violin, 1797, from Italian viola, from Old Provençal viola, from Medieval Latin vitula "stringed instrument," perhaps from Vitula, Roman goddess of joy (see fiddle), or from related Latin verb vitulari "to exult, be joyful." Viola da gamba "bass viol" (1724) is from Italian, literally "a viola for the leg" (i.e. to hold between the legs).
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Viola
fem. proper name, from Latin viola "the violet" (see violet).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
viola
[(vee-oh-luh)]
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.