barrel organ


noun
  1. a musical instrument in which air from a bellows is admitted to a set of pipes by means of pins inserted into a revolving barrel; hand organ.

Origin of barrel organ

1
First recorded in 1765–75

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How to use barrel organ in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for barrel organ

barrel organ

noun
  1. an instrument consisting of a cylinder turned by a handle and having pins on it that interrupt the air flow to certain pipes, thereby playing any of a number of tunes: See also hurdy-gurdy

  2. a similar instrument in which the projections on a rotating barrel pluck a set of strings

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