music box
- 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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Also especially British, musical box.
Origin of music box
First recorded in 1765–75
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for music box
Contemporary Examples
“I made a story in my mind where the captain of the toy solders is in love with the music-box ballerina,” she says.
Historical Examples
Gertie looked at Archy and then at the music-box, and Archy looked at the music-box and then at Gertie.
The music-box has registered Its phrases garbled and reviled. '
Enamels and Cameos and other PoemsThophile Gautier
What do you want to do with the fiddle—think it's a music-box?
Other Main-Travelled RoadsHamlin Garland
It was a music-box, you know, and the Turkish lady played a tune while she smoked.
O Pioneers!Willa Cather
He touched a button and a music-box in the dragon's head began to play a tune.
The Lost Princess of OzL. Frank Baum
music box
musical box
- 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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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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