What is "barrel organ"

Organ \Or"gan\, n. [L. organum, Gr. ?; akin to ? work, and E. work: cf. F. organe. See Work, and cf. Orgue, Orgy.]

1. An instrument or medium by which some important action is performed, or an important end accomplished; as, legislatures, courts, armies, taxgatherers, etc., are organs of government.

2. (Biol.) A natural part or structure in an animal or a plant, capable of performing some special action (termed its function), which is essential to the life or well-being of the whole; as, the heart, lungs, etc., are organs of animals; the root, stem, foliage, etc., are organs of plants.

   Note: In animals the organs are generally made up of several tissues, one of which usually predominates, and determines the principal function of the organ. Groups of organs constitute a system. See System.

3. A component part performing an essential office in the working of any complex machine; as, the cylinder, valves, crank, etc., are organs of the steam engine.

4. A medium of communication between one person or body and another; as, the secretary of state is the organ of communication between the government and a foreign power; a newspaper is the organ of its editor, or of a party, sect, etc. A newsletter distributed within an organization is often called its house organ.

5. [Cf. AS. organ, fr. L. organum.] (Mus.) A wind instrument containing numerous pipes of various dimensions and kinds, which are filled with wind from a bellows, and played upon by means of keys similar to those of a piano, and sometimes by foot keys or pedals; -- formerly used in the plural, each pipe being considered an organ.

   The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow.
   --Pope.

   Note: Chaucer used the form orgon as a plural.

   The merry orgon . . . that in the church goon [go].

   Barrel organ, Choir organ, Great organ, etc. See under Barrel, Choir, etc.

   Cabinet organ (Mus.), an organ of small size, as for a chapel or for domestic use; a reed organ.

   Organ bird (Zo["o]l.), a Tasmanian crow shrike ( Gymnorhina organicum). It utters discordant notes like those of a hand organ out of tune.

   Organ fish (Zo["o]l.), the drumfish.

   Organ gun. (Mil.) Same as Orgue (b) .

   Organ harmonium (Mus.), an harmonium of large capacity and power.

   Organ of Corti (Anat.), a complicated structure in the cochlea of the ear, including the auditory hair cells, the rods or fibers of Corti, the membrane of Corti, etc. See Note under Ear.

   Organ pipe. See Pipe, n., 1.

   Organ-pipe coral. (Zo["o]l.) See Tubipora.

   Organ point (Mus.), a passage in which the tonic or dominant is sustained continuously by one part, while the other parts move.

Barrel \Bar"rel\ (b[a^]r"r[e^]l), n.[OE. barel, F. baril, prob. fr. barre bar. Cf. Barricade.]

1. A round vessel or cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends or heads; as, a cracker barrel. Sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.

2. The quantity which constitutes a full barrel. This varies for different articles and also in different places for the same article, being regulated by custom or by law. A barrel of wine is 311/2 gallons; a barrel of flour is 196 pounds.

3. A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case; as, the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.

4. A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
   --Knight.

5. A jar. [Obs.]
   --1 Kings xvii. 12.

6. (Zo["o]l.) The hollow basal part of a feather.

   Barrel bulk (Com.), a measure equal to five cubic feet, used in estimating capacity, as of a vessel for freight.

   Barrel drain (Arch.), a drain in the form of a cylindrical tube.

   Barrel of a boiler, the cylindrical part of a boiler, containing the flues.

   Barrel of the ear (Anat.), the tympanum, or tympanic cavity.

   Barrel organ, an instrument for producing music by the action of a revolving cylinder.

   Barrel vault. See under Vault.

n. 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.

n. a musical instrument that makes music by rotation of a cylinder studded with pegs [syn: grind organ, hand organ, hurdy gurdy, street organ]

A barrel organ (or roller organ) is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. The basic principle is the same as a traditional pipe organ, but rather than being played by an organist, the barrel organ is activated either by a person turning a crank, or by clockwork driven by weights or springs. The pieces of music are encoded onto wooden barrels (or cylinders), which are analogous to the keyboard of the traditional pipe organ.