Crossword clues for plectrum
plectrum
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Plectrum \Plec"trum\, n.; pl. L. Plectra, E. Plectrums . [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.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
something used to pluck the strings of a musical instrument, 1620s, from Latin plectrum, from Greek plektron "thing to strike with" (pick for a lyre, cock's spur, spear point, etc.), from plek-, root of plessein "to strike" (see plague (n.)).
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context anatomy zoology English) An anatomical part resembling a plectrum in shape. 2 (context music English) A small piece of plastic, metal, ivory, etc for plucking the strings of a guitar, lyre, mandolin, etc.
WordNet
Wikipedia
A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand. In harpsichords, the plectra are attached to the jack mechanism.
Usage examples of "plectrum".
CHAPTER XVIII SUITORS FOR THE HAND OF NESTA VICTORIA When, upon the well-known quest, the delightful singer Orpheus took that downward way, coming in sight of old Cerberus centiceps, he astutely feigned inattention to the hostile appearances of the multiple beast, and with a wave of his plectrum over the responsive lyre, he at the stroke raised voice.
The biwa is played with a kind of plectrum, called bachi, usually made of horn.
But one day Shunkin struck her on the head with a plectrum, and the girl ran home crying.
When the key was pressed, the jack rose and the plectrum snapped the wire.
The tone was thin and delicate, but as the plectrum did not remain in contact with the string, the vibration continued longer than in the clavier.
Each pause, however slight, is marked by two or three sharp beats on the tightly stretched skin, or twangs with a palmetto leaf plectrum, loud or soft, according to the subject of the discourse at that point.
She took some deep breaths, dearly willing herself to be calm as she removed something like a tiny plectrum from the headset and surveyed it bleakly.
Most of the finish below the sound hole had been worn away by years of plectrum strokes across the wood.
I’ve spent the last three years recalibrating the jacks, upgrading the plectrums, and adjusting the strings.
He listened with barely concealed impatience as the man demonstrated a musical instrument fashioned so that its strings were plucked by plectrums fashioned from multicolored fangs, enspelled so that the resulting sound could imitate nearly anything the musician wished.