harp 
in rapid succession (see arpeggio). Such effects are much 
employed in modern orchestration. Harmonic tones 
(which see, under harmonic) are also much used. 
As harporez harpen in her karpe 
That new souge thay sougen ful cler. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 880. 
The cherubic host, in thousand quires, 
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires. 
Milton, Solemn Musick. 
2. [cap.~\ A constellation, otherwise called Lyra 
or the Lyre. 3. Same as harper, 2. 
A plain harp shilling. Greene, James IF., iii. 
It was ordered [in 1637] that the title or name of Irish 
money or harps should be abolished. 
Simon, Essay on Irish Coins, p. 47. 
4. An oblong implement, consisting of a frame 
filled up with parallel wires resembling the 
strings of a harp, used as a screen; a grain- 
sieve. [Scotch.] 5. A sparred shovel for fill- 
ing coal. [Eng.] 6. In a scutching-machine, 
a grating through which the refuse falls as the 
revolving beater drives the fibers forward. 7. 
A figure, likened to a harp or saddle, on the 
back of the adult harp-seal. 
The harp or saddle-shaped mark does not become fully 
developed until the fifth year. Stand. Nat. Hist., II. 476. 
Hence 8. The harp-seal, or harper JEolian 
harp. See jEolian\. Couched harp, the spinet. Dltal 
harp. See dital. Double-action pedal harp. See 
above. Double harp. Seeabove. Negroharp. Same 
as manga. Welsh harp, a triple harp originally used in 
Wales. 
harp (harp), v. [< ME. harpen, < AS. hearpian, 
flay on the harp, < hearpe, harp : see harp, n.~\ 
. intrans. 1. To play on the harp; play as 
on a harp. 
Tech him to harpe 
With his nayles scharpe. 
Quoted in Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. v. 
I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. 
Rev. xiv. 2. 
The helmed Cherubim, . . . 
Harping in loud and solemn quire, 
With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir. 
Milton, Nativity, 1. 115. 
2. To speak often of something, especially so 
often as to be tiresome or vexing; speak with 
reiteration ; especially, to speak or write with 
monotonous repetition: usually with on or 
upon. 
The sweete smacke that Yarmouth nudes in it ... ab- 
breviatly and meetely according to my old Sarum plaine- 
song I have harpt upon. 
Nashe, Lenten Stuff e (Harl. Misc., VI. 162). 
He seems 
Proud and disdainful ; harping on what I am, 
Not what he knew I was. Shak., A. and C., iii. 11. 
Neither do I care to wrincle the Smoothness of History 
with rugged names of places unknown, better harp'd at 
in Camden, and other Chorographers. 
Milton, Hist. Eng., iv. 
To harp on one string, to dwell too exclusively upon 
one subject, so as to weary or annoy. 
You harp a little too much upon one string. Collier. 
II. trans. If. To give forth as a harp gives 
forth sound ; give expression to, or utter. 
Thou hast harp'd my fear aright. Shak. , Macbeth, Iv. 1. 
2. To produce some specified effect upon by 
playing on the harp. [Rare.] 
He's taen a harp into his hand, 
He's harped them all asleep. 
The Water o' Wearie's Well (Child's Ballads, 1. 198). 
He'd harpit a flsh out o' saut water, 
Or water out o' a stane. 
Glenkindie (Child's Ballads, II. 8). 
3. To sift or separate by means of a harp or 
screen : as, to harp grain ; to harp sand. See 
harp, n., 4 and 5. [Scotch.] 
Harpa 1 (har'pii), n. [NL., < LL. harpa, a harp : 
see harp.~\ A genus of mollusks, representa- 
tive of the family Harpidte, having a compara- 
tively wide aperture and ventricose cross-ribbed 
whorls ; the harp-shells. There are several spe- 
cies, of most tropical seas. Lamarck, Jour. Soc. 
Hist. Nat., 1799. See cut under harp-shell. 
harpa 2 , . See harpe. 
Harpactor (har-pak'tor), n. [NL., < Gr. dpva- 
KTUp,\&T.ofdpira- 
icrf/p, a robber, < 
dpird&iv, snatch, 
seize, steal.] A 
genus of preda- 
tory heteropter- 
ous insects, of 
the family Bedu- 
Viidce. The head is 
convex behind the 
eyes, the ocelli are 
distant and knob- 
bed, and the first an- 
tennal joint is as 
Harpactor cinctus (line shows natural long as and stouter 
size), and beak of same enlarged. than the two follow- 
2726 
ing. Harpactor cinctus, about 10 millimeters long, and 
easily recognized by its yellowish-brown color and banded 
legs, is abundant in the eastern parts of North America. 
Harpactorides (har-pak-tor'i-dez),w.j>;. [NL., 
< Harpactor + -ides."} A group of heteropterous 
insects, named from the genus Harpactor. 
Harpagidae (har-paj'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Har- 
pax (Harpag-), 2, 4- -idee.] A family of orthop- 
terous insects regarded by Burmeister as a sub- 
family of Mantida!, having two projections on 
the vertex and spurs on the four hinder tibias. 
It includes several genera besides Harpax, the 
typical genus. 
Harpagifer (har-paj'i-fer), . [NL., < Gr. dpird- 
-,TI, a hook, H- "L.ferre = E. bear 1 .] The typical 
genus of Harpagiferido! : so called from the 
hook-like spine which arises from the opercu- 
lum. J. Richardson, 1848. 
Harpagiferidae (har-paj-i-fer'i-de), n.pl. [NL., 
< Harpagifer + -idee.] A family of acanthop- 
terygian fishes, typified by the genus Harpagi- 
fer. The body is naked, the snout rounded, the dorsal 
fins are two in number (the first short and the second 
oblong), and the anal fin is shorter than the second dorsal. 
Only two species, inhabitants of the antarctic seas, are 
known. 
Harpago (har'pa-go), n. [NL. , < L. "harpago(n-), 
a hook, grapple: see harpagon.] 1. A genus 
of mollusks. Klein, 1753. 2. [?. c. ; pi. harpa- 
gones (har-pa-go'nez).] In entom., one of the 
clasps of the genital armature of a lepidopter- 
ous insect. 
harpagont, n. [< L. harpago(n-), < Gr. dpirdyq, 
a hook, a rake, < dpird&tv, snatch, seize: see 
harpoon, harpy.] A grappling-iron. 
At last the enemies from out the Carthaginian ships 
began to cast out certain loggets, with yron hookes at the 
end (which the souldiers call harpagones), ... for to take 
hold upon the Roman ships. Holland, tr. of Livy, p. 746. 
harpagones, . Plural of harpago, 2. 
Harpagophytum (har-pa-gof 'i-tum), n. [< Gr. 
dpirayr/, a hook (see harpagon), + <J>VTOV, a plant.] 
A genus of dicotyledonous gamopetalous 
plants founded by Meisner in 1836, belonging 
to the natural order Pedalinew, distinguished 
botanically from Pedalium and other related 
genera by having numerous ovules instead of 
only two in each cell. It embraces five species, natives 
of South Africa and Madagascar. It derives its name from 
its peculiar fruit, which is armed with long and strong 
hooked spines, adhering firmly to the mouth or nose of 
animals which touch them while grazing, a circumstance 
from which the principal species, H. procumbens, has ac- 
quired the name of grapple-plant. The plants are pro- 
cumbent perennial herbs of whitish aspect, with incised 
leaves, and solitary short-pedicelled flowers in their 
axils. 
Harpagornis (har-pa-gdr'nis), n. [NL., < Gr. 
apTraf (dpTray-), robbing,rapacious (see Harpax), 
+ opvif, a bird.] 1. A genus of subfossil rap- 
torial birds of New Zealand, of size andstrength 
sufficiently great to enable them to prey upon 
themoas. Julius Haast, 1872. 2. [I.e.] A bird 
of this genus. 
HarpagUS (har'pa-gus), n. [NL., < Gr. dpird-yr/, 
a hook: see harpagon.] 1. A notable genus 
of South American falcons with bidentate or 
doubly toothed beak, such as H. bidentatus or 
H. diodon. Also called Bideny (Spix, 1824), 
Diodon (Lesson, 1831), and Diplodon (Nitzsch, 
1840). N. A. Vigors, 1824. 2. A genus of 
tineid moths. Stephens, 1834. 
Harpalidae (har-pal'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Har- 
palus + -idee.] The Harpalina rated as a sepa- 
rate family. The same or a similar group is also called 
Harpalidfi, Harpalidea, Harpalides, and Harpalini. 
Harpalinae (har-pa-li'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Har- 
palus + -ina!.] A subfamily of beetles, of the 
family Carabidw, typified by the genus Har- 
palus. It includes adephagous beetles with the middle 
coxal cavities closed by the sterna, the epimera not reach- 
a. Murky Ground-beetle (Harpalui caliginosus}, natural sire. *, 
Pennsylvania Ground-beetle (Harfalus fennsylvanicus). (Line 
shows natural size.) 
ing the coxse, no antenna! grooves on the head, the supra- 
orbital setce distinct, and the ambulatorial abdominal 
sete usually well developed. They are generally found 
under stones. 
harping 
harpaline (har'pa-lin), a. Pertaining to or hav- 
ing the characters of the Harpalina; or Har- 
palidte. 
Harpalus (hiir'pa-lus), 11. [NL., < Gr. dpirateof, 
greedy, < dpird&iv, snatch, seize.] The typical 
genus of Harpalina;, containing many large 
flattened black beetles, as H. caliginosns (Say), 
a species about an inch long, found in the 
United States. Latreille, 1802. 
Harpax (har'paks), n. [NL., < Gr. apvaS,, rapa- 
cious, < dpirdletv, snatch, seize: see harpagon, 
harpoon, harpy] 1 . A genus of fossil shells, of 
the group Ostracea, oblong and somewhat tri- 
angular in shape, the hinge being formed by 
two projecting teeth. It is now included in 
the genus Plicatula. Parkinson, 1811. 2. The 
typical genus of Harpagida!. Serville, 1831. 
harpe, harpa 2 (har'po, -pa), n. [NL., < Gr. apvr/, 
a sickle, simitar, hook.] ' 1. In classical myth., 
the peculiarly shaped sword of Hermes, lent 
by him to Perseus, who with it cut off the head 
of Medusa. It is represented sometimes as curved like 
a sickle, and sometimes with a straight blade from which 
projects a curved point or tooth. 
2. In entom., the inwardly projecting armature 
of the interior of the valves of the genital or- 
gans of lepidopterous insects. Gosse. 3. [cap.] 
In ichth., a genus of fishes. T. N. Gill, 1863. 
Harpephyllum (har-pe-firum), n. [NL. (Bern- 
hardi, 1844), < Gr. ap^n, a simitar, + QiiMov, a 
leaf.] A genus of South African evergreen 
trees, belonging to the natural order Anacar- 
diacece and tribe Spondieae, distinguished from 
related genera by its dioacious flowers (the male 
flowers having 8 or 9 stamens), and by its 
obovate, two-celled drupe. It has alternate odd- 
pinnate leaves crowded at the ends of the branches ; the 
leaflets are falcate or sword-shaped. Only one species, H. 
Ca/rum, is known, which is called Kajir'e simitar-tree by 
the English and Eschenhout by the Dutch colonists. The 
fruit, which is edible, is called zuurebesges. 
harper (har'per), n. [< ME. harpere, herper, 
harpour, < AS. hearpere (= MHG. harpfcere, G. 
harfner), a harper, < hearpian, harp : see harp, 
v.] 1. One who plays on the harp. 
Mury is the twynkelyng of the harpour. 
King Alisaunder, I 2672 (Weber's Metr. Rom.). 
" I am a bold harper," quoth Eobin Hood, 
"And the best in the north country." 
Robin Hood and Allin A Dale (Child's Ballads, V. 281). 
2. One of various Irish coins (for example, the 
'shilling' and the 'groat') current in the six- 
teenth and seven- 
teenth centuries : 
popularly so called 
from the harp which 
formed their reverse 
type. Also harp. 
A mill sixpence of my 
mother's . . . and a two- 
pence I had to spend, . . . 
besides the harper that 
was gathered amongst us 
to pay the piper. 
B. Jonson, Gipsies Meta- 
Imorphosed. 
3. The harp-seal. 
harperess (har'per- 
es), n. [Also har- 
press; < harper + 
-ess.] A female 
player on the harp. 
The rustling leaves of 
an aspen . . . overhung 
the seat of the fair har- 
press. 
Scott, Waverley, xxii. 
harpers-cord, n. See 
harpsichord. 
Harpia (har'pi-a), n. 
Same as Harpyia. 
Harpidae(har'pi-de), 
n. pi. [NL. , < Harpa 
+ -idee. ] A family Of seum. ( Size of the original.) 
rhachiglossate gas- 
tropods, typified Iby the genus Harpa. They have 
the head exposed, conspicuous eyes, a wide foot, and no 
operculum. The shell is ventricose, with a low spire, and 
longitudinal ribs cross the whorls. Nine species are known, 
inhabitants of the tropical seas. 
harping (har'ping), . [< ME. harping ; verbal 
n. of harp, t'.] 1 . The act of playing on the 
harp ; notes or strains performed on the harp. 
Come into my hall, thou silly blind Harper, 
And of thy harping let me hear ! 
Lochmauen Harper (Child's Ballads, VI. 8). 
2. Naut.: (a) The fore parts of the wales, which 
encompass the bow and are fastened to the 
Stem. Their use is to strengthen the ship in the place 
where she sustains the greatest shock in plunging into the 
sea - (ft) In ship-biiilding, the continuations of 
the ribands at both extremities of a ship, fixed 
Harpe: 
scum. 
Reverse, 
of Elizabeth, British Mu- 
