hurdy-gurdy
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈhɜrdiˌɡɜrdi/
:
organillo
- The enchanting sound of the hurdy-gurdy filled the air as the musician turned the crank.
- plays a hurdy-gurdy
- hurdy-gurdy music
- hurdy-gurdy man
Examples
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Even if the hurdy-gurdy music from downstairs had not come up in full volume through the floor, the hammered piano tunes from the saloon next door or the jangling banjo from the dance hall across the street would have served to keep him conscious.
Fiction book (1992) -
The dead in winding sheets, the regimented dead on horseback, the skeleton that plays a hurdy-gurdy.
Fiction book (1992) -
Outside the house, a hurdy-gurdy plays.
Fiction book (1999) -
A musical crash came as a hurdy-gurdy player dove for cover.
Fiction book (1992) -
Faintly, we hear the hurdy-gurdy music of the carousel.
Fiction book (1992) -
I like hurdy-gurdys.
Blog text (30) -
They pass the carousel with its hurdy-gurdy music, spinning lights, and happy children.
Fiction book (1992) -
- Well, if l heard a hurdy-gurdy playin', I'd think I was talkin' to the fat lady in the circus.
-
As the street performers gathered, one began to play the hurdy-gurdy, attracting a small crowd.
-
She learned to play the hurdy-gurdy, creating melodies that echoed through the festival.
Synonyms
A string instrument that makes sound when a wheel rubs its strings
How Complex
Surface Forms
Etymology
Hurdy-gurdy is a playful name that copies the instrument's steady sound; people once said a double word like 'hurdy-hurdy' to echo the constant 'drone' made when a wheel rubs the strings. So a hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument with a crank and a wheel that keeps a continuous background sound under the tune.