lyre
(noun) a harp used by ancient Greeks for accompaniment
Source: WordNet® 3.1
lyre (plural lyres)
(musical instrument) An ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke.
Any instrument of the same musicological classification; any yoke lute.
A lyre-shaped sheet music holder that attaches to a wind instrument when a music stand is impractical.
(obsolete) A composer of lyric poetry.
• (a general class of instruments): yoke lute
• lire
• Ryle, rely
Source: Wiktionary
Lyre, n. Etym: [OE. lire, OF. lyre, L. lyra, Gr. Lyra.]
1. (Mus.)
Definition: A stringed instrument of music; a kind of harp much used by the ancients, as an accompaniment to poetry.
Note: The lyre was the peculiar instrument of Apollo, the tutelary god of music and poetry. It gave name to the species of verse called lyric, to which it originally furnished an accompaniment
2. (Astron.)
Definition: One of the constellations; Lyra. See Lyra. Lyre bat (Zoöl.), a small bat (Megaderma lyra), inhabiting India and Ceylon. It is remarkable for the enormous size and curious shape of the nose membrane and ears.
– Lyre turtle (Zoöl.), the leatherback.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
9 May 2025
(noun) anything in accord with principles of justice; “he feels he is in the right”; “the rightfulness of his claim”
Contrary to popular belief, coffee beans are not technically beans. They are referred to as such because of their resemblance to legumes. A coffee bean is a seed of the Coffea plant and the source for coffee. It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit, often referred to as a cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit.
