harp

/hɑːp/US/hɑɹp/

harp noun: a musical instrument consisting of a body and a curved neck, strung with strings of varying length that are stroked or plucked with the fingers and are vertical to the soundboard when viewed from the end of the body. Also the ellipsis of harp seal.

Image: Eacquahdennis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

harp (plural harps)

A musical instrument consisting of a body and a curved neck, strung with strings of varying length that are stroked or plucked with the fingers and are vertical to the soundboard when viewed from the end of the body
- The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunying of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge1568, William Cornishe [i.e., William Cornysh], “In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe otherwise Called Nyshwhete Chapelman with the Most Famose and Noble Kyng Henry the VII. His Reygne the XIX....
1. Any instrument of the same musicological type.
(colloquial) A harmonica.
(colloquial) A struck tuned percussion instrument of metal or wooden bars, especially as a function of a theatre organ.
(Scotland) A grain sieve.
The component of a lamp to which one attaches the lampshade, consisting of a lightweight frame that usually surrounds the bulb with an attachment at the top for the finial.
- Contains charts and instructions for wiring. Shows sockets, wire, harps, glass chimneys and globes, shade holders, bases, finials, and hundreds of items necessary in the building of lamps.1960, School Shop, volume 20, page 36
- Both types of harp have a swiveling shade holder at the top. The threaded stud on the swivel accepts the finial.1991, Kalton C. Lahue, Cheryl Smith, Interior Lighting, page 104

Verb

harp (third-person singular simple present harps, present participle harping, simple past and past participle harped)

(derogatory, usually, with-on) To repeatedly mention a subject, especially so as to nag or complain.
- Why do you harp on a single small mistake?
- Why do you harp on about a single small mistake?
(transitive) To play on (a harp or similar instrument).
(transitive) To play (a tune) on the harp.
(archaic, transitive) To develop or give expression to by skill and art; to sound forth as from a harp; to hit upon.
- Thou harped my fear aright.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

Proper noun capitalized: Harp

Harp

A surname originating as an occupation for a player of the harp.

Also used as

harp is also the ellipsis of harp seal.

harp meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

harp in Hindi

musical instrument: वीणा vīṇā

harp in Tamil

ஹார்ப்

harp in Marathi

musical instrument: तुणतुणे tuṇtuṇe

harp in Urdu

musical instrument: بربط

More languagesFewer languages

harp in Bengali: হার্প
harp in Telugu: హార్ప్ hārp
harp in Malayalam: ഹാർപ്പ് hāṟppŭ
harp in Kannada: ಹಾರ್ಪ್
harp in Punjabi: ਹਾਰਪ, ਹਾਰਪ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
harp in Gujarati: હાર્પ, હાર્પ કરવા માટે
harp in Odia: ହାର୍ପ
harp in Nepali: हार्प, हार्प गर्न
harp in Tagalog: alpa
harp in Arabic: قِيثَارَة qīṯāra
harp in Malay: harpa
harp in Indonesian: harpa
harp in Persian: چنگ čang
harp in Thai: ฮาร์ป háap
harp in Vietnamese: thụ cầm, hạc cầm, đàn hạc, đàn harp
harp in Myanmar: စောင်း caung:

Examples of harp in a sentence

My husband's constant harping about the condition of the house threatens to drive me to distraction.
He harped on his quibble about how the dark red paint should be described as carmine rather than burgundy.
Some people say that harp seals eat too many cod, but humans are the ones who collapsed the Atlantic cod fishery to begin with.

All 40 example sentences with harp

Synonyms of harp

Forms of harp

Noun
plural	harps
Verb
third-person singular present	harps
present participle	harping
past participle	harped
past	harped

Plural of harp: harps

Origin of harp

From Middle English harpe, from Old English hearpe (“harp”), from Proto-West Germanic *harpā, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ (“harp”). Cognate with Scots hairp (“harp”), West Frisian harpe, harp (“harp”), Low German Harp (“harp”), Dutch harp (“harp”), German Harfe (“harp”), Danish harpe (“harp”), Swedish harpa (“harp”).

Phrases with harp

20 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with harp

Questions about harp

What does harp mean?: Harp means a musical instrument consisting of a body and a curved neck, strung with strings of varying length that are stroked or plucked with the fingers and are vertical to the soundboard when viewed from the end of the body.
What is harp in Hindi?: Harp in Hindi is वीणा (vīṇā). See Harp meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is harp?: Harp can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce harp?: Harp is pronounced /hɑːp/ (UK).
What is the plural of harp?: The plural of harp is harps.

Words near harp in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: harp (page history and authors); Harp (page history and authors); harp (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); harp (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); harp (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); harp (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); harp (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); harp (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); harp (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-harp.wav.

Cite this entry: “harp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/harp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.