Lexic.us

Definition of Plectrum

1. Noun. A small thin device (of metal or plastic or ivory) used to pluck a stringed instrument.

Definition of Plectrum

1. n. A small instrument of ivory, wood, metal, or quill, used in playing upon the lyre and other stringed instruments.

Definition of Plectrum

1. Noun. (context: anatomy zoology) An anatomical part resembling a plectrum in shape. ¹

2. Noun. (music) A small piece of plastic, metal, ivory, etc for plucking the strings of a guitar, lyre, mandolin, etc. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Plectrum

1. an implement used to pluck the strings of a stringed instrument [n -TRUMS or -TRA]

Medical Definition of Plectrum

1. Origin: L, fr. Gr. Anything to strike with, fr. To strike. A small instrument of ivory, wood, metal, or quill, used in playing upon the lyre and other stringed instruments. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Plectrum

Literary usage of Plectrum

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Antiquarian (1871)
"Plaj-ed with a plectrum. 2. Played with the fingers. It will be noticed that the lyre was of many different shapes, and that the strings being partly ..."

2. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing by Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck (1911)
"... strikes the strings with a plectrum, while his left hand also seizes or touches the strings. This instrument found wide circulation. ..."

3. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the Derivation, Source, Or Origin of by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1898)
"It was played cither with the fingers or with a plectrum. The lyre is called by poets a " shell," because the cords of the lyre used by Orpheus (2 ..."

4. A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians by John Gardner Wilkinson (1854)
"Lyres played with and without the plectrum. Thebes. centre of the body of the instrument, which was entirely of wood. In the Berlin and Leyden museums are ..."

5. Nineveh and Its Palaces: The Discoveries of Botta and Layard, Applied to the by Joseph Bonomi (1857)
"They are dancing a grotesque dance to the music of a man who accompanies them on a sort of cithern, played with a plectrum: the instrument is like the ..."

6. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians by George Grove, John Alexander Fuller-Maitland (1907)
"A dulcimer, played with the fingers or a plectrum instead of by hammers. The French have adopted the Greek name without change. ..."

7. The Antiquarian (1871)
"Plaj-ed with a plectrum. 2. Played with the fingers. It will be noticed that the lyre was of many different shapes, and that the strings being partly ..."

8. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing by Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck (1911)
"... strikes the strings with a plectrum, while his left hand also seizes or touches the strings. This instrument found wide circulation. ..."

9. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the Derivation, Source, Or Origin of by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1898)
"It was played cither with the fingers or with a plectrum. The lyre is called by poets a " shell," because the cords of the lyre used by Orpheus (2 ..."

10. A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians by John Gardner Wilkinson (1854)
"Lyres played with and without the plectrum. Thebes. centre of the body of the instrument, which was entirely of wood. In the Berlin and Leyden museums are ..."

11. Nineveh and Its Palaces: The Discoveries of Botta and Layard, Applied to the by Joseph Bonomi (1857)
"They are dancing a grotesque dance to the music of a man who accompanies them on a sort of cithern, played with a plectrum: the instrument is like the ..."

12. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians by George Grove, John Alexander Fuller-Maitland (1907)
"A dulcimer, played with the fingers or a plectrum instead of by hammers. The French have adopted the Greek name without change. ..."

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