hydraulus

American  

[hahy-draw-luhs] / haɪˈdrɔ ləs /

noun

PLURAL

hydrauli, hydrauluses

1. a pipe organ of ancient Greece and Rome using water pressure to maintain the air supply.

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Etymology

Origin of hydraulus

1870–75; < Latin < Greek hýdraulos water organ, equivalent to hydr- hydr- ¹ + aulós pipe

Example Sentences

The first mechanical pipe organ, a water-driven monster called a hydraulus, so awed the ancients that they enshrined it in a temple of Venus.

From Time Magazine Archive

They called it an hydraulus because air was fed into its pipes by a water contrivance.

From Time Magazine Archive