lap dulcimer

noun

plural lap dulcimers

: an American folk instrument with three or four strings stretched over a slender fretted sound box that is held on the lap and played by plucking or strumming : dulcimer sense 2

On the lap dulcimer … [Greg] Jowaisas played mesmerizing tunes he learned from folk musicians in the Appalachian Mountain country.

—Kitty Oliver

Word History

First Known Use

1946, in the meaning defined above