mouth-organ
1. A musical instrument operated by the mouth. a. = pan-pipe; b. = harmonica, -on; c. dial. = Jews' harp.
| a 1668 R. Lassels Voy. Italy (1698) II. 199 Pan also plays on his mouth-organ tuneably. 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz, First of May, The instrumental accompaniments rarely extended beyond the shovels and a set of Pan-pipes, better known to many, as a ‘mouth-organ’. 1887 Sci. Amer. 19 Feb. 120/3 The mouth organ, or harmonica, is a familiar example of a simple reed instrument. |
2. Zool. One of the parts or appendages forming the mouth (of an insect, crustacean, etc.).
| 1863 Dana in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. Ser. ii. XXXVI. 4 Insects,..have three pairs of mouth-organs, and three pairs of legs. 1866 H. Woodward Brit. Fossil Crustacea i. 37. 1878 Bell Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 239 Such of these more anterior ventral appendages as lie near the mouth are converted into mouth-organs. |