ψάλλω,
future ψᾰλῶ [[ LXX.Judg.5.3, NT.1Cor.14.15 ] LXX+NT]: aorist ἔψηλα [[ 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Lysis” 209b, etc., and in LXX ἔψᾱλα LXX.Psa.9.12, +others] LXX+5th c.BC+]:—pluck, pull, twitch, ψ. ἔθειραν pluck the hair, [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Persae” 1062: especially of the bow-string, τόξων χερὶ ψάλλουσι νευράς] Refs 4th c.BC+] twang them, [[ 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus “Bacchae” 784; κενὸν κρότον 3rd c.BC: Lycophron Tragicus 1453 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐκ κέραος ψ. βέλος send a shaft twanging from the bow, [[ “APl.” 4.211 (Stat. Flacc.)] Refs]; so μιλτοχαρὴς σχοῖνος ψαλλομένη a carpenter's red line, which is twitched and then suddenly let go, so as to leave a mark, [[“Anthologia Graeca” 6.103 (1st c.AD: Philippus Epigrammaticus): _metaphorically_, γυναῖκας ἐξ ἀνδρῶν ψόγος ψάλλει, κενὸν τόξευμα 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus “Fragmenta” 499. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]
__II mostly of the strings of musical instruments, play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and not with the plectron, ψῆλαι καὶ κρούειν τῷ πλήκτρῳ [[ 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus ] Refs 5th c.BC+] [same place], et ibi [[ Scholia; ἐάν τις ψήλας τὴν νήτην ἐπιλάβῃ 4th c.BC: Aristoteles Philosophus “Problemata” 919b15; μουσικώτατος ὢν χατὰ χεῖρα δίχα πλήκτρου ἔψαλλε 2nd c.AD: Athenaeus Epigrammaticus 4.183d ] Refs 4th c.BC+]; opposed to κιθαρίζω, [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 1.155, “SIG” 578.18 (Teos, 2nd c.BC)] Refs 5th c.BC+]; πρὶν μέν σ᾽ ἑπτάτονον ψάλλον (i.e. τὴν λύραν) Ion Eleg.3.3: absolutely, [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus [same place], 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Equites” 522, Hippias (?) in “PHib.” 1.13.24; κόραις 4th-3rd c.BC: Menander Comicus “Ἐπιτρέποντες” 260; ψάλλειν [οὐκ ἔνι] ἄνευ λύρας 2nd c.AD: Lucianus Sophista “Par.” 17:] Refs 5th c.BC+] —Prov., ῥᾷον ἤ τις ἂν χορδὴν ψήλειε 'as easy as falling off a log', [[ 2nd c.AD: Aristides Rhetor “Orationes” 26(14).31. ] Refs 2nd c.AD+]