rebec

American  

[ree-bek] / ˈri bɛk /

Or rebeck

noun

1. a Renaissance fiddle with a pear-shaped body tapering into a neck that ends in a sickle-shaped or scroll-shaped pegbox.

---

rebec British  

/ ˈriːbɛk /

noun

1. a medieval stringed instrument resembling the violin but having a lute-shaped body

---

Etymology

Origin of rebec

1745–55; < Middle French; replacing Middle English ribibe < Old French rebebe ≪ Arabic rabāb rebab

Example Sentences

The vocal parts suggest everything from Gregorian chant to folk song, the orchestra includes such authentic curiosities as a rebec, a vielle and a minstrel's harp.

From Time Magazine Archive

The action is accompanied by music suggestive of everything from Gregorian chant to folk song, played on reproductions of such authentic medieval instruments as a psaltery, a rebec, a minstrel's harp.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hark! hark! the rebec calls,—Glycere Again may foot it on the green; Her rivalry I need not fear, These flowers shall crown the Village Queen.

From A Selection from the Works of Frederick Locker by Locker-Lampson, Hannah Jane

It was the Arab rebec that afforded the starting point for the modern violin, and this instrument was not known in Europe until it came in by way of the crusaders or the Spanish Arabs.

From A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present by Mathews, W. S. B. (William Smythe Babcock)

The crwth is followed by the rebec, which most of us know better from Milton’s lines— “When the merry bells ring round And the jocund rebecks sound”— than in any more practical manner. 

From Springtime and Other Essays by Darwin, Francis, Sir