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hurdy-gurdy

[ hur-dee-gur-dee, -gur- ]

noun

, plural hur·dy-gur·dies.
  1. a barrel organ or similar musical instrument played by turning a crank.
  2. a lute- or guitar-shaped stringed musical instrument sounded by the revolution against the strings of a rosined wheel turned by a crank.


hurdy-gurdy

/ ˈhɜːdɪˈɡɜːdɪ /

noun

  1. any mechanical musical instrument, such as a barrel organ
  2. a medieval instrument shaped like a viol in which a rosined wheel rotated by a handle sounds the strings
“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


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Other Words From

  • hurdy-gurdist hurdy-gurdy·ist noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of hurdy-gurdy1

1740–50; variant of Scots hirdy-girdy uproar, influencedby hurly-burly
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Word History and Origins

Origin of hurdy-gurdy1

C18: rhyming compound, probably of imitative origin
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Example Sentences

Tonio will take to the hurdy-gurdy again; him an' Puck should win money too.

The old Italian organ-grinder doing his best to please you with his wheezy hurdy-gurdy is not just an old organ-grinder.

Pisistratus, by the help of Latin comprehending that the Savoyard says that the mice are alive, and the hurdy-gurdy is not.

My uncle sold a watch, and I played on the hurdy-gurdy, by way of making myself popular.

Among other things lying near her Dot now noticed a hurdy-gurdy, such as she had seen musicians carrying around the streets.

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