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ukulele
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
ukulele
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A man playing a ukulele and riding a bicycle across the sky.
▪ Before long he had switched to ukulele, and graduated from there to guitar at the age of eleven.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
ukulele

1896, from Hawaiian 'ukulele, literally "leaping flea," from 'uku "louse, flea" + lele "to fly, jump, leap." Noted earlier in English as the Hawaiian word for "flea." The instrument so called from the rapid motion of the fingers in playing it. It developed from a Portuguese instrument introduced to the islands c.1879.

Wiktionary
ukulele

n. (context musical instruments English) A small four-stringed guitar.

WordNet
ukulele

n. a small guitar having four strings [syn: uke]

Wikipedia
Ukulele

The ukulele ( , from (oo-koo-leh-leh); variant: ukelele), sometimes abbreviated to uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments; it generally employs four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings.

The ukulele originated in the 19th century as a Hawaiian adaptation of the Portuguese machete, a small guitar-like instrument, which was introduced to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants, many from Madeira and the Azores. It gained great popularity elsewhere in the United States during the early 20th century, and from there spread internationally.

The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone.

Ukulele (disambiguation)

The ukulele is a small stringed instrument with four strings.

Ukulele may also refer to:

  • Cliff Edwards, known as "Ukulele Ike", an American singer
  • " Ukulele Lady", a song by Gus Kahn and Richard A. Whiting
  • Ukulele Baby!, an album by The Wiggles
  • Several orchestras:
    • Langley Ukulele Ensemble
    • New York Ukulele Ensemble
    • Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
    • Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra
  • Yooka-Laylee, an upcoming 3D platform game

Usage examples of "ukulele".

Green retreats to behind one of the trees as beefy flannel forms with leis shedding petals, their speech grunty-foreign and unmistakably Canadian, a couple with ukuleles, spill out like ants over the sagging porch and into the yard, mill and jabber, a couple kneel by the form of the former dog.

In the screen, a barely clad songstress sat under a palm tree near a beach, plucked a ukulele, and looked seductive as she crooned.

I heard the lepers wailing for food--only the wailing was peculiarly harmonious and rhythmic, and it was accompanied by the music of stringed instruments, violins, guitars, ukuleles, and banjos.

Consider his position, you faint-hearted and self-pitying young men who think you have a tough row to hoe just because, when you pay your evening visit with the pound box of candy under your arm, you see the handsome sophomore from Yale sitting beside her on the porch, playing the ukulele.