Hypertext Webster Gateway: "minstrel"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Minstrel
(Matt. 9:23), a flute-player. Such music was a usual
accompaniment of funerals. In 2 Kings 3:15 it denotes a player
on a stringed instrument.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Minstrel \Min"strel\, n. [OE. minstrel, menestral, OF.
menestrel, fr. LL. ministerialis servant, workman (cf.
ministrellus harpist), fr. L. ministerium service. See
{Ministry}, and cf. {Ministerial}.]
In the Middle Ages, one of an order of men who subsisted by
the arts of poetry and music, and sang verses to the
accompaniment of a harp or other instrument; in modern times,
a poet; a bard; a singer and harper; a musician. --Chaucer.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
minstrel
n 1: a singer of folk songs [syn: {folk singer}, {jongleur}, {poet-singer},
{troubadour}]
2: a performer in a minstrel show
v : celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels
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