Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
American organ

American organ

9.9
A keyboard instrument that makes sound when air is pulled through thin metal strips, making a warm vibrating sound
  • noun
  • /əˈmɛrɪkən ˈɔrɡən/
  • US
translation icon : órgano americano
  • The church still uses a vintage American organ for Sunday services.

Examples

  • The musician demonstrated the difference between the harmonium and the American organ.

  • The American organ produces a rich, warm sound.

  • She inherited an old American organ from her great-grandmother.

  • Many churches use an American organ for their services.

  • The church still uses a vintage American organ for Sunday services.

  • The musician demonstrated the difference between the harmonium and the American organ.

  • The American organ produces a rich, warm sound.

Synonyms

harmonium
vsAmerican organ
4 8.0

A small keyboard instrument that you play by pumping air through metal reeds

draws air through reeds by suction rather than forcing it
reed organ
vsAmerican organ
1 8.1

A keyboard instrument that makes sound when air is pushed through thin metal strips using hand pumps

uses suction bellows to draw air through reeds not force it
seraphine
vsAmerican organ
  • Archaic
9.9

A small 19th-century keyboard instrument that uses an air pump to make sound

is a later larger instrument rather than the earlier small 19th century type

Surface Forms

American organ singular
American organs plural

Morphology

American + organ

This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'American' specifies origin or style and 'organ' names the instrument, so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a kind of organ associated with America. The label may not convey technical details like 'free-reed' or 'suction bellows', but the basic meaning is transparently derived from the constituents and follows common cross-linguistic patterns.

Etymology

American organ may come from 19th-century small keyboard instruments made in America; someone would pump the bellows to pull air through metal reeds, making a warm, 'harmonium-like' sound. That's why the name came to mean a small reed keyboard instrument of that type.