harp

noun

• 1a musical instrument consisting of a frame supporting a graduated series of parallel strings, played by plucking with the fingers. The modern orchestral harp has an upright frame, with pedals which enable the strings to be retuned to different keys.

• 2another term for harmonica.Papa had been teaching him to play the blues harp

  [short for mouth harp]

• 3 (also harp shell or harp snail) a marine mollusc which has a large vertically ribbed shell with a wide aperture, found chiefly in the Indo-Pacific.

  • Family Harpidae, class Gastropoda

verb

• 1 (harp on) talk or write persistently and tediously on (a particular topic):I don’t want to harp on about the past

• 2 archaic play on a harp: among them harped the divine minstrel Demodocus