viola

noun

1. a four-stringed musical instrument of the violin family, slightly larger than the violin; a tenor or alto violin.
2. a labial organ stop of eight-foot or four-foot pitch, giving tones of a penetrating stringlike quality.

noun

1. any plant of the genus Viola, especially a cultivated variety.Compare pansy(def 1), violet(defs 1, 2).
2. a pansy, V. cornuta, cultivated as a garden plant.

noun

1. a female given name.

noun

1. a bowed stringed instrument, the alto of the violin family; held beneath the chin when played. It is pitched and tuned an octave above the cello
2. any of various instruments of the viol family, such as the viola da gamba

noun

1. any temperate perennial herbaceous plant of the violaceous genus Viola, the flowers of which have showy irregular petals, white, yellow, blue, or mauve in colourSee also violet (def. 1), pansy (def. 1)

n.

tenor violin, 1797, from Italian viola, from Old Provençal viola, from Medieval Latin vitula “stringed instrument,” perhaps from Vitula, Roman goddess of joy (see fiddle), or from related Latin verb vitulari “to exult, be joyful.” Viola da gamba “bass viol” (1724) is from Italian, literally “a viola for the leg” (i.e. to hold between the legs).

fem. proper name, from Latin viola “the violet” (see violet).

A musical instrument shaped like a violin but somewhat larger, lower pitched, and “darker” in tone. A viola player holds a viola like a violin, under the chin.