| Harp | n. [ OE. harpe, AS. hearpe; akin to D. harp, G. harfe, OHG. harpha, Dan. harpe, Icel. & Sw. harpa. ] 1. A musical instrument consisting of a triangular frame furnished with strings and sometimes with pedals, held upright, and played with the fingers. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Astron.) A constellation; Lyra, or the Lyre. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. A grain sieve. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]
Aeolian harp. See under Aeolian. [ 1913 Webster ]
Harp seal (Zool.), an arctic seal (Phoca Grœnlandica). The adult males have a light-colored body, with a harp-shaped mark of black on each side, and the face and throat black. Called also saddler, and saddleback. The immature ones are called bluesides; their fur is white, and they are killed and skinned to harvest the fur. --
Harp shell (Zool.), a beautiful marine gastropod shell of the genus Harpa, of several species, found in tropical seas. See Harpa. [ 1913 Webster ]
|
| Harp | v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Harped pos>p. pr. & vb. n. Harping. ] [ AS. hearpian. See Harp, n. ] 1. To play on the harp. [ 1913 Webster ] I heard the voice of harpers, harping with their harps. Rev. xiv. 2. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. To dwell on or recur to a subject tediously or monotonously in speaking or in writing; to refer to something repeatedly or continually; -- usually with on or upon. “Harpings upon old themes.” W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ] Harping on what I am,
Not what he knew I was. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
To harp on one string, to dwell upon one subject with disagreeable or wearisome persistence. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]
|
| Harper | n. [ AS. hearpere. ] 1. A player on the harp; a minstrel. [ 1913 Webster ] The murmuring pines and the hemlocks . . .
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. A brass coin bearing the emblem of a harp, -- formerly current in Ireland. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ] |
