Organ

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Organ \Or"gan\ ([^o]r"gan), n. [L. organum, Gr. 'o`rganon; akin
     to 'e`rgon work, and E. work: cf. F. organe. See {Work}, and
     cf. {Orgue}, {Orgy}.]
     1. An instrument or medium by which some important action is
        performed, or an important end accomplished; as,
        legislatures, courts, armies, taxgatherers, etc., are


        organs of government.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Biol.) A natural part or structure in an animal or a
        plant, capable of performing some special action (termed
        its function), which is essential to the life or
        well-being of the whole; as, the heart, lungs, etc., are
        organs of animals; the root, stem, foliage, etc., are
        organs of plants.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In animals the organs are generally made up of several
           tissues, one of which usually predominates, and
           determines the principal function of the organ. Groups
           of organs constitute a system. See {System}.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A component part performing an essential office in the
        working of any complex machine; as, the cylinder, valves,
        crank, etc., are organs of the steam engine.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A medium of communication between one person or body and
        another; as, the secretary of state is the organ of
        communication between the government and a foreign power;
        a newspaper is the organ of its editor, or of a party,
        sect, etc. A newsletter distributed within an organization
        is often called its {house organ}.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     5. [Cf. AS. organ, fr. L. organum.] (Mus.) A wind instrument
        containing numerous pipes of various dimensions and kinds,
        which are filled with wind from a bellows, and played upon
        by means of keys similar to those of a piano, and
        sometimes by foot keys or pedals; -- formerly used in the
        plural, each pipe being considered an organ.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow. --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Chaucer used the form orgon as a plural.
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 The merry orgon . . . that in the church goon
                 [go].
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Barrel organ}, {Choir organ}, {Great organ}, etc. See under
        {Barrel}, {Choir}, etc.
  
     {Cabinet organ} (Mus.), an organ of small size, as for a
        chapel or for domestic use; a reed organ.
  
     {Organ bird} (Zool.), a Tasmanian crow shrike ({Gymnorhina
        organicum}). It utters discordant notes like those of a
        hand organ out of tune.
  
     {Organ fish} (Zool.), the drumfish.
  
     {Organ gun}. (Mil.) Same as {Orgue}
        (b) .
  
     {Organ harmonium} (Mus.), an harmonium of large capacity and
        power.
  
     {Organ of Corti} (Anat.), a complicated structure in the
        cochlea of the ear, including the auditory hair cells, the
        rods or fibers of Corti, the membrane of Corti, etc. See
        Note under {Ear}.
  
     {Organ pipe}. See {Pipe}, n., 1.
  
     {Organ-pipe coral}. (Zool.) See {Tubipora}.
  
     {Organ point} (Mus.), a passage in which the tonic or
        dominant is sustained continuously by one part, while the
        other parts move.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Organ \Or"gan\, v. t.
     To supply with an organ or organs; to fit with organs; to
     organize. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Thou art elemented and organed for other apprehensions.
                                                    --Bp.
                                                    Mannyngham.
     [1913 Webster] Organdie

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  organ
       n 1: a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an
            animal that is specialized for some particular function
       2: a government agency or instrument devoted to the performance
          of some specific function; "The Census Bureau is an organ
          of the Commerce Department"
       3: (music) an electronic simulation of a pipe organ [syn: {electric
          organ}, {electronic organ}, {Hammond organ}]
       4: a periodical that is published by a special interest group;
          "the organ of the communist party"
       5: wind instrument whose sound is produced by means of pipes
          arranged in sets supplied with air from a bellows and
          controlled from a large complex musical keyboard [syn: {pipe
          organ}]
       6: a free-reed instrument in which air is forced through the
          reeds by bellows [syn: {harmonium}, {reed organ}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  129 Moby Thesaurus words for "organ":
     Charlie McCarthy, Hammond organ, affiliate, agency, agent, ancilla,
     annual, appendage, appliance, arm, baroque organ, bimonthly,
     biweekly, bough, branch, branch office, calliope, calliophone,
     channel, chapter, choralcelo, component, contrivance, creature,
     daily, daybook, device, diary, division, dummy, dupe,
     electric organ, electro-pneumatic organ, element, ephemeris,
     fortnightly, forum, gazette, go-between, hand, handmaid,
     handmaiden, harmonium, hebdomadal, hydraulic organ, imp, implement,
     instrument, instrumentality, instrumentation, interagent,
     intermediary, intermediate, intermedium, joint, journal, leg,
     lever, limb, link, lobe, lobule, local, lodge, magazine, mean,
     mechanism, mediator, medium, melodeon, melodica, member, midwife,
     minion, ministry, monthly, mouthpiece, newsletter, newsmagazine,
     newspaper, offshoot, orchestrelle, organophone, paper, part, pawn,
     periodical, pictorial, pinion, pipe organ, plaything, post,
     process, publication, puppet, quarterly, ramification, reed organ,
     review, runner, scion, seraphine, serial, servant, slave,
     slick magazine, spray, sprig, spur, steam organ, stooge, structure,
     switch, symphonion, tail, tendril, tool, toy, tracker-action organ,
     trade magazine, tubular-pneumatic organ, twig, unit, vehicle,
     vocalion, voice, weekly, wing, yearbook
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Organ
     some kind of wind instrument, probably a kind of Pan's pipes
     (Gen. 4:21; Job 21:12; Ps. 150:4), which consisted of seven or
     eight reeds of unequal length.