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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
clavichord
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ I've got up again and put on G.P.'s clavichord record.
▪ New little clavichord in his study, seventeenth century, and over his desk his charts and diagrams.
▪ One must simply accept these performances at face value and forget about problems of piano versus harpsichord versus clavichord.
▪ When Cristofori built his pianos of the 1720s, the harpsichord and the clavichord were the usual stringed keyboard instruments.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
clavichord

Clarichord \Clar"i*chord\, n. [F. clatocorde, fr.L. clarus clear + chorda string. See Chord.] A musical instrument, formerly in use, in form of a spinet; -- called also manichord and clavichord.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
clavichord

mid-15c., from Medieval Latin clavicordium (15c.), from Latin clavis "a key" (see slot (n.2)) + chorda "a string" (see cord).

Wiktionary
clavichord

n. (context musici English) An early keyboard instrument producing a soft sound by means of metal blades (called tangents) attached to the inner ends of the keys gently strike the strings.

WordNet
clavichord

n. an early stringed instrument like a piano but with more delicate sound

Wikipedia
Clavichord

The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances (a problem that was solved when the Clavinet was invented in the mid-20th century). The clavichord produces sound by striking brass or iron strings with small metal blades called tangents. Vibrations are transmitted through the bridge(s) to the soundboard.

Usage examples of "clavichord".

The elder daughter, who was going to marry an actor, was extremely beautiful, an accomplished dancer, and played on the clavichord like a professional, and was altogether most charming and graceful.

It was not a ball, nor had dancing been announced, but everyone knew that Catherine Petrovna would play valses and the ecossaise on the clavichord and that there would be dancing, and so everyone had come as to a ball.

A third was playing a Viennese waltz on the clavichord, while a fourth, lying on the clavichord, sang the tune.

Prince Andrew when they had gone into the large room where the clavichord was.

Sonya and Natasha, in the light-blue dresses they had worn at the theater, looking pretty and conscious of it, were standing by the clavichord, happy and smiling.

Nicholas, and went again into the dancing room where the clavichord stood.

Natasha ran across the drawing room to the dancing hall, where Denisov was sitting on the same chair by the clavichord with his face in his hands.

Mishka had opened the clavichord and was strumming on it with one finger.

Kuzminichna flicked the dust off the clavichord and closed it, and with a deep sigh left the drawing room and locked its main door.

Catherine Petrovna would play valses and the ecossaise on the clavichord and that there would be dancing, and so everyone had come as to a ball.

A violoncello and clavichord, with several portfolios of music, and scattered sheets of ruled paper, proclaimed the profession or the taste of the occupant.

Vincent Winterton stood up and went to the small clavichord that was fastened with heavy brass screws to one of the main frames of the ship.

The applause went on too long for the liking of the singer, and Vincent rose from the clavichord with a deprecating wave of the hand that begged them to desist.

She arrived from Spain with the disassembled parts of a clavichord, which she put together herself, and various string instruments that she played and taught with great virtuosity.

Her relations intended her for Clement, who had been teaching her the clavichord for the last three years.