lyre

A stringed instrument of the harp family having two curved arms connected at the upper end by a crossbar, used to accompany a singer or reciter of poetry, especially in ancient Greece.

In pianoforte-making, the lyre-shaped frame to which the pedals are attached and through which the pedal-rods work.

The posterior portion of the under surface of the fornix of the brain, marked by a number of lines bearing a fancied resemblance to a lyre. Also called lyre of David or lyra Davidis.

See lire.

An obsolete form of leer.

In music

A stringed instrument of Egyptian origin, which became the national instrument of ancient Greece.

An element in the name of some instruments of the viol class, as the arm-lyre or lira da braccio, and the knee-lyre or lira da gamba. See lira.

A kind of metallic harmonica, mounted on a lyre-shaped frame, occasionally used in military music.

A kind of rebec used by the modern Greeks. See rebec.