zillhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zill_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezill, n.
Revised 2018

zillnoun

  1. 1754–
    A type of cymbal traditionally used in Turkish and Middle Eastern music or dance; esp. a small cymbal of a kind usually played in pairs, being attached to the fingers and thumb and struck together to make a sound (cf. finger cymbal n.). Frequently in plural.
    1. 1754
      Brass plates, which they call zel, or cymbals, which a fellow gingled together.
      A. Drummond, Travels v. 119
    2. 1817
      Where, some hours since, was heard the swell Of trumpet and the clash of zel.
      T. Moore, Lalla Rookh i. 8
    3. 1838
      The clash of the zell, the boom of the African drum, and the wild and barbarous blast of the Moorish clarion.
      E. Bulwer-Lytton, Leila iv. i. 167
    4. 1870
      The brothers Keuropé..export annually about 1,300 pairs of zils into Western European countries.
      C. Engel, Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments in South Kensington Museum 25
    5. 1978
      A dancer may have tied a scarf tightly around her hips, draped a scarf over her hands or picked up a set of zills.
      Dance Research Journal vol. 10 16/1
    6. 2002
      Belly dancing..classes are accompanied by live percussionists and women play finger cymbals called zills.
      Time 28 October 57/3

zill, n. was revised in June 2018.

zill, n. was last modified in July 2023.