zitherhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zither_v%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezither, v.
Revised 2021

zitherverb

    1. 1.a.
      1889–
      intransitive. To make a sound like that of a zither; to make a sibilant humming sound; to buzz lightly. Also: to move while making such a sound.
      1. 1889
        implied in:
        It swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes. [at zithering adj.]
        M. Ostlere, Dead! iii. 76
      2. 1935
        Every day cars pass this window which were born along about 1914, but they are still zithering along in the direction the driver seems to want to go.
        Del Rio (Texas) Evening News 16 May 1/1
      3. 1958
        His squeaky voice zithered through morning or afternoon.
        J. Townsend, Young Devils iv. 35
      4. 1981
        Insects zithered and chirred.
        B. Carter, Black Fox Running xxvii. 176
      5. 1997
        There are fields of sunflowers and cicadas zithering under a hard blue sky.
        Observer (Nexis) 27 July (Sports section) 11
    2. 1.b.
      1930–
      transitive. To cause (something) to flutter or flicker.
      1. 1930
        The sunlight, zithering their flanks with fire, Flashes between the shadows as they pass.
        R. Campbell, Adamastor 71
      2. 2005
        The breeze zithered Duke's hair.
        R. Laymon, Into the Fire (2006) xxii. 155
      3. 2019
        Two hundred acres zithered by breeze and flashes of sun.
        B. Holsinger, Gifted School (e-book edition)
  1. 2.
    1891–
    intransitive. To play the zither. rare.
    1. 1891
      If the zithern peddler had not been put out of the shop as he was the whole shop might be zithering now.
      Massillon (Ohio) Daily Independent 15 May
    2. 1906
      We wandered and fiddled and zithered and tambourined through France.
      W. J. Locke, Beloved Vagabond (1907) ix. 120
    3. 2008
      Koch, Arnold Weinstein, and others came to the house, taping their poems as I pianoed and zithered and drummed away.
      J. Gruen, Callas kissed Me...Lenny Too! xxiii. 138

zither, v. was revised in March 2021.

zither, v. was last modified in September 2024.