organ-pipe
[f. organ n.1 + pipe n.]
1. a. One of the pipes of an organ: see organ n.1 2.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 369/1 Orgon pype, or pype of an orgon. 1530 Palsgr. 250/1 Organ pype, flevte dorgre. 1588 Nottingham Rec. IV. 224 The orgayne pypes is in number xij. score and xv. 1832 Tennyson Pal. Art xxv, Near gilded organ-pipes..slept St. Cecily. 1842 Brande Dict. Sci., etc. 856/1 Organ pipes are of two sorts, mouth pipes and reed pipes, of each..there are several species. |
b. fig.
| 1595 Shakes. John v. vii. 23 This pale faint Swan, Who chaunts a dolefull hymne to his owne death, And from the organ-pipe of frailety sings His soule and body to their lasting rest. 1611 ― Temp. iii. iii. 98 The Thunder (That deepe and dreadfull Organ-Pipe) pronounc'd The name of Prosper. |
2. transf. Applied to things resembling the pipes of an organ. † a. Some kind of fire-arm. Obs.
| 1594 Barwick Disc. Weapons of Fire 10 b, Fauconits, Robinets and Organpipes, all these be but light peeces. |
b. pl. Applied to basaltic columns, closely-placed, like a row of organ-pipes.
| 1861 E. T. Holland in Peaks Passes & Glaciers Ser. ii. I. 68 High up in the cliffs of this mountain is a very singular-looking group of red basaltic organ-pipes, arranged with great regularity of structure. |
c. ‘In costume, a large piping; a rounded flute’ (Cent. Dict.).
d. = organ-cactus (organ n.1 8).
| 1854 Colburn's United Service Jrnl. Feb. 274 A specimen of [cactus]..which from its shape is commonly called ‘the organ pipe’ rose to the height of about twenty feet. 1957 J. Kerouac On Road (1958) IV. v. 276 We began to see the ghostly shapes of yucca cactus and organ-pipe on all sides. |
3. organ-pipe cactus = sense 2 d above; organ-pipe coral: see coral n.1 1 b.
| 1833 Mantell Wonders Geol. (1838) II. 478 Tubipora: Organ-pipe coral. 1890 Athenæum 216/2. 1908 W. T. Hornaday Camp-Fires on Desert 352 The mines are quite the northern limit of the organ-pipe cactus. 1977 Times 21 Apr. 16/8 Organ-pipe cacti still grow alongside..golf course greens [in Arizona]. |