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definitions

melodeon

or me·lo·di·on

[muh-loh-dee-uh n]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR melodeon ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small reed organ.
a kind of accordion.

Origin of melodeon

1840–50, Americanism; < German, formed on Melodie melody; see accordion
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for melodeon

concertina, melodeon, squeezebox

Examples from the Web for melodeon

Historical Examples of melodeon

  • She could not imagine how the singing could be anything without her voice and the melodeon.

  • Ye can't foller a fiddle an' sing, ye got to hev a melodeon or accordion.

  • Billy's flute and the melodeon did not harmonize as the melodeon had only three notes left in it.

  • I guess we could get us some kind of a melodeon, 'fore we done such a thing as that.

  • Eve came from the melodeon and laid one slim hand on his arm.

    The Flaming Jewel

    Robert W. Chambers

British Dictionary definitions for melodeon

melodeon

melodion

noun music

a type of small accordion
a type of keyboard instrument similar to the harmonium

Word Origin for melodeon

C19: from German, from Melodie melody
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 melodeon
n.

1847, variant of melodion, from German Melopdoin, from Melodie, from Old French melodie (see melody).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper