| lyre | 1. A stringed instrument of music; a kind of harp much used by the ancients, as an accompaniment to poetry. The lyre was the peculiar instrument of Apollo, the tutelary god of music and poetry. It gave name to the species of verse called lyric, to which it originally furnished an accompaniment 2. <astronomy> One of the constellations; Lyra. See Lyra. <zoology> Lyre bat, the leatherback. Origin: OE. Lire, OF. Lyre, L. Lyra, Gr. Cf. Lyra. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| lyre bird | <ornithology> Any one of two or three species of Australian birds of the genus Menura. The male is remarkable for having the sixteen tail feathers very long and, when spread, arranged in the form of a lyre. The common lyre bird (Menura superba), inhabiting new South Wales, is about the size of a grouse. Its general colour is brown, with rufous colour on the throat, wings, tail coverts and tail. Synonym: lyre pheasant and lyre-tail. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |