spinet
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
spinet /spɪˈnɛt, ˈspɪnɪt/
▶noun
- 1 a small harpsichord with the strings set obliquely to the keyboard, popular in the 18th century.
- 2 US a type of small upright piano.
– origin C17: shortening of obs. Fr. espinette, from Ital. spinetta ‘virginal, spinet’, dimin. of spina (see spine), the strings being plucked by quills.
'spinet' also found in these Oxford entries:
