musical glasses

plural noun

a set of drinking glasses filled with varying amounts of water to produce ringing tones of different pitches when the player's finger is rubbed around the wet rims.

Compare glass harmonica.

Origin of musical glasses

First recorded in 1760–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for musical glasses

Historical Examples of musical glasses

I am also an accomplished waltzer; I know the use of the globes, and can play the overture to Zampa on the musical-glasses.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 107, August 18, 1894
Various

British Dictionary definitions for musical glasses

musical glasses

pl n

another term for glass harmonica

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