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hydraulus

American  
[hahy-draw-luhs] / haɪˈdrɔ ləs /

noun

  • hydrauli,
    plural
  • hydrauluses
    plural
  1. a pipe organ of ancient Greece and Rome using water pressure to maintain the air supply.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of hydraulus

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

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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