zither

Etymology

Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “a kind of harp”). Doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar.

noun

1. (music) A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
2. (music, translations) Related or similar instruments in other cultures, such as the Chinese guqin or Norwegian harpeleik; especially any chordophone without a neck, and with strings that pass over the body.

verb

1. To play a zither.
   […] the fluting began again. Not alone this time, but, to Rosalie’s infinite surprise, accompanied on a zither. […] At this moment the fluting and zithering began again. 1892, Edmund Gosse, chapter 3, in The Secret of Narcisse, New York: United States Book Company, page 100,102
   We wandered and fiddled and zithered and tambourined through France till the chills and rains of autumn rendered our vagabondage less merry. 1906, William John Locke, chapter 9, in The Belovéd Vagabond, New York: John Lane, published 1911, pages 120–121
   1999, Richard Hacken (translator), “Mary in Misery” by Peter Rosegger in Into the Sunset: Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Austrian Prose, Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, pp. 413-414, We traveled far and wide: he played the zither while I sang an accompaniment. […] He keeps zithering, and I sing like before, and before long we’ve put together a pretty good pile of money . . .
2. To make a sound similar to that made by a zither; to move while making such a sound.
   c. 1890, May Ostlere, Dead! London: Trischler, Chapter 3, p. 76, Now [the wind] swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes […]
   The olives seemed weighed down under the weight of their fruit, smooth drops of green jade among which the choirs of cicadas zithered. 1956, Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals, Penguin, published 2000, Part Two, Chapter 10, p. 123
   Once I owned a bike […] It had no fenders and one gear only, and on the forks, both fore and aft, I clipped some plastic playing cards to zither loudly through the spokes. 1985, Kim Chapin, chapter 19, in Dogwood Afternoons, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 178
   ‘Look at that!’ she shouted, already backing up the Jeep, its tyres zithering on the crusty surface. 1996, Carl Huberman, chapter 38, in Eminent Domain, London: Macmillan, page 328
   The other men opened fire with pistols, slugs zithering past him with a dull whine. 2004, Matt Braun, chapter 15, in Black Gold, New York: St Martin’s Paperbacks, page 158