music box

American  

noun

music boxes plural

1. a box or case containing an apparatus for producing music mechanically, as by means of a comblike steel plate with tuned teeth sounded by small pegs or pins in the surface of a revolving cylinder or disk.

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music box British  

noun

1. a mechanical instrument that plays tunes by means of pins on a revolving cylinder striking the tuned teeth of a comblike metal plate, contained in a box

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• music boxes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of music box

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

In the homey second movement, he carefully lays down his cello, picks up a music box and sits at the foot of the podium.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2026

Aficionados will delight in minor details such as being close enough to touch the ghoulish monkey music box from the original, and being within breathing distance of the performers in these famous roles.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

René opens the music box, and a tinkling music begins to play, the same song heard long ago in his Damascus sitting room.

From BBC • Dec. 23, 2024

There, in the Morris Museum’s collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata, is a music box from around 1877.

From New York Times • Apr. 2, 2024

I would have been horrified if I had known that two days after I received the music box, Mary Miller wrote Mr. Ferris requesting that parental contact be stopped altogether.

From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter