cittern, cithern, cither, citole, gittern
(noun) a 16th century musical instrument resembling a guitar with a pear-shaped soundbox and wire strings
Source: WordNet® 3.1
gittern (plural gitterns)
A small, quill-plucked, gut-strung musical instrument, most commonly with three to four strings in doubles courses; it is a flat-backed predecessor of the guitar, and it originated around the 13th century, coming to Europe via Moorish Spain.
Synonym: quintern
gittern (third-person singular simple present gitterns, present participle gitterning, simple past and past participle gitterned)
To play on the gittern.
• gritten, retting
Source: Wiktionary
Git"tern, n. Etym: [OE. giterne, OF. guiterne, ultimately from same source as E. guitar. See Guitar, and cf. Cittern.]
Definition: An instrument like a guitar. "Harps, lutes, and giternes." Chaucer.
Git"tern, v. i.
Definition: To play on gittern. Milton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
25 April 2025
(adjective) used in combination to denote the middle; “midmorning”; “midsummer”; “in mid-1958”; “a mid-June wedding”
The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.
