different between zither vs null

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek ?????? (kithára, “a kind of harp”). Doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?z?.ð?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?z?.ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(?)

Noun

zither (plural zithers)

1. (music) A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
2. (music, translations) Related or similar instruments in other cultures, such as the Chinese guqin or Norwegian harpeleik; especially any chordophone without a neck, and with strings that pass over the body.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• (similar instruments) autoharp, dulcimer, harpeleik

References

• 2010. Appalachian Dulcimer. Ralph Lee Smith. Pg. 6.

Verb

zither (third-person singular simple present zithers, present participle zithering, simple past and past participle zithered)

1. To play a zither.
   • 1892, Edmund Gosse, The Secret of Narcisse, New York: United States Book Company, Chapter 3, pp. 100, 102,^[1]

     […] the fluting began again. Not alone this time, but, to Rosalie’s infinite surprise, accompanied on a zither. […] At this moment the fluting and zithering began again.

   • 1906, William John Locke, The Belovéd Vagabond, New York: John Lane, 1911, Chapter 9, pp. 120-121,^[2]

     We wandered and fiddled and zithered and tambourined through France till the chills and rains of autumn rendered our vagabondage less merry.

   • 1999, Richard Hacken (translator), “Mary in Misery” by Peter Rosegger in Into the Sunset: Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Austrian Prose, Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, pp. 413-414,^[3]

     We traveled far and wide: he played the zither while I sang an accompaniment. […] He keeps zithering, and I sing like before, and before long we’ve put together a pretty good pile of money . . .

2. To make a sound similar to that made by a zither; to move while making such a sound.
   • c. 1890, May Ostlere, Dead! London: Trischler, Chapter 3, p. 76,^[4]

     Now [the wind] swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes […]

   • 1956, Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals, Penguin, 2000, Part Two, Chapter 10, p. 123,^[5]

     The olives seemed weighed down under the weight of their fruit, smooth drops of green jade among which the choirs of cicadas zithered.

   • 1985, Kim Chapin, Dogwood Afternoons, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Chapter 19, p. 178,^[6]

     Once I owned a bike […] It had no fenders and one gear only, and on the forks, both fore and aft, I clipped some plastic playing cards to zither loudly through the spokes.

   • 1996, Carl Huberman, Eminent Domain, London: Macmillan, Chapter 38, p. 328,^[7]

     ‘Look at that!’ she shouted, already backing up the Jeep, its tyres zithering on the crusty surface.

   • 2004, Matt Braun, Black Gold, New York: St Martin’s Paperbacks, Chapter Fifteen, p. 158,^[8]

     The other men opened fire with pistols, slugs zithering past him with a dull whine.

English

Alternative forms

• Ø (linguistics, abbreviation)
• ? (mathematics, abbreviation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French nul, from Latin n?llus.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /n?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Noun

null (plural nulls)

1. A non-existent or empty value or set of values.
2. Zero quantity of expressions; nothing.
3. Something that has no force or meaning.
4. (computing) the ASCII or Unicode character (?), represented by a zero value, that indicates no character and is sometimes used as a string terminator.
5. (computing) the attribute of an entity that has no valid value.

   Since no date of birth was entered for the patient, his age is null.

6. One of the beads in nulled work.
7. (statistics) Null hypothesis.

Translations

Adjective

null (comparative more null, superlative most null)

1. Having no validity; "null and void"
2. Insignificant.
   • 1924, Marcel Proust, Within a Budding Grove:

     In proportion as we descend the social scale our snobbishness fastens on to mere nothings which are perhaps no more null than the distinctions observed by the aristocracy, but, being more obscure, more peculiar to the individual, take us more by surprise.

3. Absent or non-existent.
4. (mathematics) Of the null set.
5. (mathematics) Of or comprising a value of precisely zero.
6. (genetics, of a mutation) Causing a complete loss of gene function, amorphic.

Antonyms

• antinull
• non-null

Derived terms

• null determiner
• nullary
• nullity

Verb

null (third-person singular simple present nulls, present participle nulling, simple past and past participle nulled)

1. (transitive, archaic) To nullify; to annul.
2. To form nulls, or into nulls, as in a lathe.
3. (computing, slang, transitive) To crack; to remove restrictions or limitations in (software).

Related terms

• annul
• nulled work

See also

• nil

Cimbrian

Etymology

From Latin n?llus (“none”).

Numeral

null

1. (Luserna) zero

References

• “null” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Estonian

Numeral

null

1. zero

Faroese

Etymology

From Latin nullus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l?

Numeral

null

1. zero

Noun

null n (genitive singular nuls, plural null)

1. (mathematics) the numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero

Declension

German

Etymology

From the noun Null (“the number zero”), from Italian nulla, from Latin nulla, feminine singular of nullus (“no, none”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?l/

Numeral

null

1. zero; nil; nought; (tennis) love (integer number between -1 and 1, denoting no quantity at all)

2. (colloquial) zero; no

   Synonym: (überhaupt) kein

Coordinate terms

Adjective

null (not comparable)

1. (specialist, law, chiefly predicative) null (having no validity)

Declension

Derived terms

• null und nichtig (also in common use)

Further reading

• “null” in Duden online and “null” in Duden online; cp. “null” in Duden online and “null” in Duden online
• “null” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache; cp. “Null” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nul/

Numeral

null

1. zero

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin nullus (“no one, none, no”), from Proto-Italic *ne oinolos, from Proto-Italic *oinos (“one”), from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one, single”).

Determiner

null

1. no (determiner: not any)

   ha null penger - to have no money

Numeral

null

1. zero, nought, nil

Noun

null m (definite singular nullen, indefinite plural nuller, definite plural nullene)
null n (definite singular nullet, indefinite plural null or nuller, definite plural nulla or nullene)

1. zero (numeric symbol of zero), nought, nil
2. a nobody or nonentity (derogatory about a person)

Derived terms

• nullstille
• nulltoleranse
• nullvekst

References

• “null” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin nullus

Determiner

null

1. no (determiner: not any)

   ha null pengar - to have no money

Numeral

null

1. zero, nought, nil

Noun

null m (definite singular nullen, indefinite plural nullar, definite plural nullane)
null n (definite singular nullet, indefinite plural null, definite plural nulla)

1. zero (numeric symbol of zero), nought, nil
2. a nobody or nonentity (derogatory about a person)

Derived terms

• nulltoleranse
• nullvekst

References

• “null” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German null.

Numeral

null

1. zero