music box

noun

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.

music box

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of music box¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

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.

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Rollins is accompanied by Nick Myers, who sits on the side of the stage dressed as a music box in silver foil and oversized pearls.

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

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Our next stop was Culver City, where he gave me a music box that played “Edelweiss.”

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

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