A stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal. It is played on the lap or horizontally on a table. Some have their own legs. These musical instruments are played by plucking on the strings (traditionally with a quill) or by tapping on them (in the case of the hammer dulcimers).
User Defined Definitions
"a stringed instrument used in American folk music; an elliptical body and a fretted fingerboard and three strings"
"a trapezoidal zither whose metal strings are struck with light hammers"