Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An instrument of music, which, when placed between the teeth, gives, by means of a bent metal tongue struck by the finger, a sound which is modulated by the breath; -- called also
Jew's-trump . - noun (Naut.) The shackle for joining a chain cable to an anchor.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word jew's-harp.
Examples
-
It was like that of a tuning-fork or the tongue of a jew's-harp.
THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI 2010
-
You can hear what persists of indigenous musical forms on the disc called "Sounds and Songs of Everyday Life": whoop-and-holler work songs to the accompaniment of axes and machetes, a gentle, throaty improvised female duet to greet the afternoon cicadas (which serve as a tambourinelike backup), a jew's-harp made of bamboo played with a rock-steady, almost techno-sounding beat.
-
By his side were a backpack, two accordions, a mouth organ, spoons and a jew's-harp.
-
He is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade, and a remarkable performer upon the jew's-harp.
-
Another instrument which is found occasionally in Manóboland, is a species of jew's-harp, made out of bamboo.
The Manóbos of Mindanáo Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir John M. Garvan
-
"I'll have to play a march of victory on the jew's-harp and mouth organ at the same time!" burst out Fred Kaler.
Jack Ranger's Western Trip Or, from Boarding School to Ranch and Range Clarence Young
-
The drum, the gong, four varieties of flutes, four species of guitars, a violin, and a jew's-harp.
The Manóbos of Mindanáo Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir John M. Garvan
-
She would leave her sleep reluctantly, start a little way, and retreat, start and retreat again, and then give one bound and light on his knee or his arm and reach up one paw and push it repeatedly across his mouth like one playing the jew's-harp; I suppose to get at the sound.
Concerning Cats My Own and Some Others Helen M. Winslow
-
The instrument is played by putting the mouth to the above-mentioned cavity and by blowing as we do in an ordinary jew's-harp.
The Manóbos of Mindanáo Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir John M. Garvan
-
This vibration, in conjunction with variations of the mouth cavity of the performer, produces tones which are not unlike those of an ordinary jew's-harp but which are not so loud nor so harmonious.
The Manóbos of Mindanáo Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir John M. Garvan
Prolagus commented on the word jew's-harp
scacciapensieri ("pastime", lit. "trouble-dispeller") in Italian.
May 1, 2011