violin
[vahy-uh-lin]
- the treble instrument of the family of modern bowed instruments, held nearly horizontal by the player's arm with the lower part supported against the collarbone or shoulder.
- a violinist or part for a violin.
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Origin of violin
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for violin
Contemporary Examples
If a stellar-mass black hole is a violin, an IMBH is a double bass.
The Democrats will emphasize the violin stories, and they will exist, too.
One hat in the Press Room is designed from black velvet with a violin perched on top of a skull cap.
Holmes did play the violin, but also smoked a pipe, boxed, injected cocaine, and lost himself in his chemistry lab.
The Foodie Detective: The Pepe Carvalho Novels by Manuel Vázquez MontalbánMalcolm Forbes
October 3, 2012
Wally Pratt was a skinny, kind of dorky kid who wore bowties and played the violin.
Historical Examples
The lame girl who played the violin limped down the corridor into the ward.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
The violin and piano are excellent, but on some accounts the hand-organ is the best of all.
I am a musician—I play the violin on a boat till I strike—so now I will get you the music.
The HarborErnest Poole
Mr. Beckendorff had his violin in his hand, but his dress was much changed.
Vivian GreyEarl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
I almost yelled, dashing wildly into my room to wash my hands and get my violin.
The First ViolinJessie Fothergill
violin
- a bowed stringed instrument, the highest member of the violin family, consisting of a fingerboard, a hollow wooden body with waisted sides, and a sounding board connected to the back by means of a soundpost that also supports the bridge. It has two f-shaped sound holes cut in the belly. The instrument, noted for its fine and flexible tone, is the most important of the stringed instruments. It is held under the chin when played. Range: roughly three and a half octaves upwards from G below middle C
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Word Origin
C16: from Italian violino a little viola, from viola 1
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 violin
n.
1570s, from Italian violino, diminutive of viola (see viola).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
violin
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.