Barrel-organ definition of Barrel-organ in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

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.

barrel organ

1. an instrument consisting of a cylinder turned by a handle and having pins on it that interrupt the air flow to certain pipes, thereby playing any of a number of tunes

2. a similar instrument in which the projections on a rotating barrel pluck a set of strings

barrel organ (redirected from Barrel-organ)

barrel organ
(redirected from Barrel-organ)