organ grinder

noun

1. an itinerant street musician who earns a living by playing a hand organ or hurdy-gurdy.

organ-grinder

noun

1. a street musician playing a hand organ for money

Word History and Origins

Origin of organ-grinder¹

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

On the soundtrack, organ-grinder music rumbles amid rising tides of cheering.

From Los Angeles Times

The monkeys that are used in laboratories are not organ-grinder monkeys.

From Literature

She met an organ-grinder and salesmen with various tourist trinkets, and then she stopped at a stall selling Soviet memorabilia – all these fur hats with stars and figures of Stalin.

From The Guardian

Meanwhile, the organ-grinder has at last stopped grinding, has lowered his box, and is eating a plateful of cold meat and bread which the old woman has brought out to him.

From Project Gutenberg

It was an Italian, a young girl who had come over to London with an organ-grinder, and who posed for sculptors, when she could get a sitting.

From Project Gutenberg