tickle the ivories

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Idioms and Phrases

Play the piano, as in He went on tickling the ivories until three in the morning . This expression alludes to a piano's keys, traditionally made of ivory. [ Colloquial ; first half of 1900s]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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