zither

Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “a kind of harp”). Doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈzɪ.ðə/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈzɪ.ðɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)

zither (plural zithers)

1. (music) A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
2. (music, translations) Related or similar instruments in other cultures, such as the Chinese guqin or Norwegian harpeleik; especially any chordophone without a neck, and with strings that pass over the body.

• (similar instruments) autoharp, dulcimer, harpeleik

• 2010. Appalachian Dulcimer. Ralph Lee Smith. Pg. 6.

zither (third-person singular simple present zithers, present participle zithering, simple past and past participle zithered)

1. To play a zither.
   • 1892, Edmund Gosse, chapter 3, in The Secret of Narcisse‎, New York: United States Book Company, page 100,102:

     […] the fluting began again. Not alone this time, but, to Rosalie’s infinite surprise, accompanied on a zither. […] At this moment the fluting and zithering began again.

   • 1906, William John Locke, chapter 9, in The Belovéd Vagabond‎, New York: John Lane, published 1911, pages 120–121:

     We wandered and fiddled and zithered and tambourined through France till the chills and rains of autumn rendered our vagabondage less merry.

   • 1999, Richard Hacken (translator), “Mary in Misery” by Peter Rosegger in Into the Sunset: Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Austrian Prose, Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, pp. 413-414,

     We traveled far and wide: he played the zither while I sang an accompaniment. […] He keeps zithering, and I sing like before, and before long we’ve put together a pretty good pile of money . . .

2. To make a sound similar to that made by a zither; to move while making such a sound.
   • c. 1890, May Ostlere, Dead! London: Trischler, Chapter 3, p. 76,

     Now [the wind] swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes […]

   • 1956, Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals‎, Penguin, published 2000, Part Two, Chapter 10, p. 123:

     The olives seemed weighed down under the weight of their fruit, smooth drops of green jade among which the choirs of cicadas zithered.

   • 1985, Kim Chapin, chapter 19, in Dogwood Afternoons‎, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 178:

     Once I owned a bike […] It had no fenders and one gear only, and on the forks, both fore and aft, I clipped some plastic playing cards to zither loudly through the spokes.

   • 1996, Carl Huberman, chapter 38, in Eminent Domain‎, London: Macmillan, page 328:

     ‘Look at that!’ she shouted, already backing up the Jeep, its tyres zithering on the crusty surface.

   • 2004, Matt Braun, chapter 15, in Black Gold‎, New York: St Martin’s Paperbacks, page 158:

     The other men opened fire with pistols, slugs zithering past him with a dull whine.