violin

plural violins

1. entertainmentA small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin and played with a bow.

   When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like this, it's a violin.

   1 more example

   She was looking more like Sherlock Holmes than ever. Slap a dressing-gown on her and give her a violin, and she could have walked straight into Baker Street and no questions asked.

   1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

2. proscribedsometimesinexactAny instrument of the violin family, always inclusive of violins, violas and cellos, and sometimes further including the double bass.

   The string quartet, one of the most popular groupings in chamber music, is composed entirely of violins: two violins proper, one viola, and one cello.

3. metonymicallyentertainmentA violinist in an orchestra or group.

   The violins are seated with sufficient elbow room.

   1 more example

   She is first violin in the London Symphony Orchestra.

present singular third person violins · participle present violining · participle past violined · past violined

1. ambitransitiveTo play on, or as if on, a violin.