harp

Etymology

From Middle English harpe, from Old English hearpe (“harp”), from Proto-West Germanic *harpā, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ (“harp”). Cognate with Scots hairp (“harp”), West Frisian harpe, harp (“harp”), Low German Harp (“harp”), Dutch harp (“harp”), German Harfe (“harp”), Danish harpe (“harp”), Swedish harpa (“harp”).

noun

1. (music) A musical instrument consisting of a body and a curved neck, strung with strings of varying length that are stroked or plucked with the fingers and are vertical to the soundboard when viewed from the end of the body
   The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunying of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge 1568, William Cornishe [i.e., William Cornysh], “In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe otherwise Called Nyshwhete Chapelman with the Most Famose and Noble Kyng Henry the VII. His Reygne the XIX. Yere the Moneth of July. A Treatise betwene Trouth, and Information.”, in John Skelton, edited by J[ohn] S[tow], Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate, Imprinted at London: In Fletestreate, neare vnto Saint Dunstones Churche by Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished as Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth, London: Printed for C. Davis in Pater-noster Row, 1736, →OCLC, page 290
   1. Any instrument of the same musicological type.
2. (colloquial) A harmonica.
3. (Scotland) A grain sieve.
4. Short for harp seal.
   More likely, it was the prospect of meat. Curwen was by now craving a juicy roast – 'even seal chop' – and was always loosing off at tickleasses and harps. 2006, John Gimlette, Theatre of Fish: Travels Through Newfoundland and Labrador, page 225

verb

1. (usually with on) To repeatedly mention a subject, especially so as to nag or complain.
   Why do you harp on a single small mistake? (US)
   Why do you harp on about a single small mistake? (UK)
2. (transitive) To play on (a harp or similar instrument).
3. (transitive) To play (a tune) on the harp.
4. (transitive, archaic) To develop or give expression to by skill and art; to sound forth as from a harp; to hit upon.