• (America) IPA: /ˌvaɪəˈlɪn/, [ˌvaɪ̯ɪ̈ˈlɪn]
• (New Zealand) IPA: /ˌvɑeˈlɘn/, /ˌvɑe.ɘˈlɘn/

violin (plural violins)

1. (musical instrument) A musical four-string instrument, generally played with a bow or by plucking the string, with the pitch set by pressing the strings at the appropriate place with the fingers; also any instrument of the violin family ↗.
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855 ↗:

     She was looking more like Sherlock Holmes than ever. Slap a dressing-gown on her and give her a violin, and she could have walked straight into Baker Street and no questions asked.

2. (music) A violinist.

   The first violin often plays the lead melody lines in a string quartet.

• fiddle

• viol
• viola
• violoncello

• French: violon
• German: Geige i normal, Violine i technical, solemn, Fiedel i informal
• Italian: violino
• Portuguese: violino
• Russian: скри́пка
• Spanish: violín

violin (violins, present participle violining; past and past participle violined)

1. (ambitransitive) To play on, or as if on, a violin.