lyre

lyre, stringed musical instrument having a yoke, or two arms and a crossbar, projecting out from and level with the body. The strings run from a tailpiece on the bottom or front of the instrument to the crossbar. Most lyres are plucked, but a few are bowed. Box lyres are instruments having a boxlike wooden body with a wooden soundboard; in some instances the arms are hollow extensions of the body, as in the ancient...