harmonium

[hahr-moh-nee-uh m]

noun

an organlike keyboard instrument with small metal reeds and a pair of bellows operated by the player's feet.

Nearby words

Origin of harmonium

1840–50; Latinization of Greek harmónion, neuter of harmónios harmonious

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for harmonium

And there were the lodgings and the clock and the harmonium ready for the occasion.
Marion Fay|Anthony Trollope
He turned towards the harmonium and made frantic signals to the leader of the glee-party.
Adventures of Bindle|Herbert George Jenkins
In the chapel there is a harmonium, which is played as well as the generality of such instruments are.
Our Churches and Chapels|Atticus
The cushions were torn; the blinds were a wreck; two stops in the harmonium were pulled out bodily.
The Monkey That Would Not Kill|Henry Drummond

Gwendolen noticed that there was a long string fastened to one of the handles of the harmonium.
Half-Past Bedtime|H. H. Bashford

British Dictionary definitions for harmonium

harmonium

noun

a musical keyboard instrument of the reed organ family, in which air from pedal-operated bellows causes the reeds to vibrate

Word Origin for harmonium

C19: from French, from harmonie harmony

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for harmonium

harmonium

keyboard instrument, 1847, from French harmonium, from Greek harmonia (see harmony). Invented c.1840.