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barrel organ

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.12 sec.
barrel organ, mechanical musical instrument requiring nothing but the regular rotary motion of a handle to keep it going. It probably originated at the beginning of the 18th cent., and was once used extensively in English churches. A revolving cylinder is fitted with pegs that open valves, permitting air to enter a set of organ pipes. Some larger ones have several sets of pipes and various couplers. They can be operated by clockwork, by weights, and by electric motors. A portable type of barrel organ whose cylinder is turned by a hand crank has been mistakenly called hurdy-gurdy hurdy-gurdy, musical instrument with three strings, caused to vibrate by a wooden wheel turned by a crank. Stopping was accomplished by keys that usually affected only one string that played the melody, the others acting as drones. Usually two players were required.
..... Click the link for more information. , from which it is fundamentally different.
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Disencumbering himself of a barrel organ which he placed upon a chair, and retaining in his hand a small whip wherewith to awe his company of comedians, he came up to the fire to dry himself, and entered into conversation.
The Old Curiosity Shop by Dickens, Charles View in context
(with the single exception perhaps of the tragic muse, when playing extemporaneously on the barrel organ before the East India Company) can parallel.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens, Charles View in context
A dark-haired young man with a barrel organ was standing in the road in front of a little general shop and was grinding out a very sentimental song.
Crime And Punishment by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor View in context
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