From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishviolavi‧o‧la /viˈəʊlə $ -ˈoʊ-/ noun [countable] 1 APMa wooden musical instrument that you play like a violin but that is larger and has a lower sound2 a plant related to the violet
Examples from the Corpus
viola• Brown learned to play guitar, violin, harmonica, piano, mandolin, viola and drums.• Take cuttings of violas, taking material from healthy, non-flowering basal shoots.• He has seated the violas to the right of the podium, with the cellos facing the conductor.• The violas can be used, however, also the cellos if they can be spared from the energetic bass part.• Their two violins, viola and cello are all Amati instruments, crafted 300 years ago by the teacher of Stradivarius.Origin viola (1700-1800) Italian Old Provençal, probably from Medieval Latin vitula; → FIDDLE1 