[It., f. arpeggiare to play upon the harp, f. arpa harp.] The employment of the notes of a chord in rapid succession instead of simultaneously; a chord thus played or sung.
1742. in Bailey.
1786. J. C. Walker, Irish Bards, 17 (T.). A Racaraide (or Rhapsodist,) who occasionally sustained his voice with arpeggio’s swept over the strings of the Harp.
1868. Geo. Eliot, Sp. Gipsy, I. 39. Juan … touched his lute With soft arpeggio.
1879. F. Taylor, in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 87/2. The downward arpeggio … is but rarely employed in modern music.
