VIOL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does viol mean? 

• VIOL (noun)
  The noun VIOL has 1 sense:

1. any of a family of bowed stringed instruments that preceded the violin family

  Familiarity information: VIOL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VIOL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of a family of bowed stringed instruments that preceded the violin family

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("viol" is a kind of...):

bowed stringed instrument; string (stringed instruments that are played with a bow)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "viol"):

viola da braccio (a member of the viol family with approximately the range of a viola)

bass viol; gamba; viola da gamba (viol that is the bass member of the viol family with approximately the range of the cello)

viola d'amore (viol that is the tenor of the viol family)

 Context examples 

He interrupted her when she gave the lines: “There are viols in your voice,” he said bluntly, and his eyes flashed their golden light.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Walking on tiptoe round the bushes, he stood in amazement to see two men bounding about on their heads, while they played, the one a viol and the other a pipe, as merrily and as truly as though they were seated in a choir.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Lifting his hand to his head, the absent-minded Professor gravely felt and removed the little cocked hat, looked at it a minute, and then threw back his head and laughed like a merry bass viol.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived—no thin five-piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)