piano

Other forms: pianos

A piano is a large musical instrument that you play by pressing black and white keys on a keyboard. Most people play a piano with their fingers, but Jerry Lee Lewis played with his fingers, feet, elbows, and, ahem, backside.

A piano makes a sound when each key moves a small hammer that strikes a metal string. The inside of a piano looks kind of like a harp. Pianos are vital in many kinds of music, from classical to pop, and in the case of Lewis, boogie-woogie. Piano comes from the original Italian name for the instrument: piano e forte, "soft and loud." Piano is also the musical notation that tells the player that something should be played quietly.

Definitions of piano

1. noun

   a keyboard instrument that is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds
   synonyms: forte-piano, pianoforte

   types:

   grand, grand piano

   a piano with the strings on a horizontal harp-shaped frame; usually supported by three legs

   Pianola, mechanical piano, player piano

   a mechanically operated piano that uses a roll of perforated paper to activate the keys

   upright, upright piano

   a piano with a vertical sounding board

   baby grand, baby grand piano, parlor grand, parlor grand piano, parlour grand, parlour grand piano

   a small grand piano

   concert grand, concert piano

   a grand piano suitable for concert performances

   spinet

   a small and compactly built upright piano

   type of:

   keyboard instrument

   a musical instrument that is played by means of a keyboard

   percussion instrument, percussive instrument

   a musical instrument in which the sound is produced by one object striking another

   stringed instrument

   a musical instrument in which taut strings provide the source of sound