noun.
A musical instrument having a flat-backed rounded body that narrows in the middle, a long fretted neck, and usually six strings, played by strumming or plucking.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
noun.
A musical instrument of the lute class, having usually six strings (three of catgut and three of silk wound with fine silver wire), stretched over a violin-shaped body, and a long neck and finger-board combined.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
A stringed instrument of music resembling the lute or the violin, but larger, and having six strings, three of silk covered with silver wire, and three of catgut, -- played upon with the fingers.