hand organ
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of hand organ
An Americanism dating back to 1790–1800
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Another time he appeared in Chester town square, bishop's gaiters & all, grinding a hand organ to help raise money for the Royal Infirmary.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Kinkytail was very busy in the factory when his two boys came in to see him, and he said they could have a second-hand hand organ that played sort of wheezy-eezy tunes.
From Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail The Funny Monkey Boys by Garis, Howard R.
Not so many years ago he would prefer a red glass ball to the Kohinoor and a hand organ with a monkey to a piano with Paderewski.
From The Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces by Kilmer, Joyce
It carromed into corner number two, smashing one perfectly good hand organ, freeing an excited monkey, and drawing forth a volley of lurid words from the Italian.
From Owen Clancy's Happy Trail or, The Motor Wizard in California by Standish, Burt L.
He installed a very large and loud hand organ inside the imitation calliope wagon, with a stovepipe poking out of the top, plenty of damp straw inside, a man to feed and burn it.
From Watch Yourself Go By by Warden, Ben W.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
