organ--prophetes.ai

▪ I. organ, n.¹
    (ˈɔːgən)
    Forms: 1 organon, pl. -na, organe weak fem.; 4 orgne, orgoyn, 4– organ (4–5 orgene, -gyn, -gun, 4–6 orgon(e, -gen, 4–7 organe, 6–7 -gayne, -gaine).
    [ad. L. organum, pl. organa, a. Gr. ὄργανον, pl. -να, instrument, organ, musical instrument. Used in OE. in Gr. form, also organe wk. fem. (so OHG. organa, -ina, MHG. orgen(e, MDu. orghene). In early ME. forms, from OF. organe, orgene (12th c.), orghene, orguine (15th c.), also orgre (13th c. from orgne), mod.F. (14th c.) orgue; all going back to organa, treated as a fem. sing. See also the by-form orgle.
    In Greek, orig. ‘that with which one works’ (ablaut formation from ἐργ- work), tool, instrument, spec. musical instrument, surgical instrument, also bodily organ as instrument of sense or faculty. In L., instrument, engine, musical instrument generally, pipe, in Christian writers also ‘church-organ’. Augustine (c 400), on Ps. lvi, says ‘All musical instruments are called organa. Not alone is that called organum, which is large and inflated by bellows, but whatever is fitted to accompany singing, and is corporeal, which he who sings uses as an instrument, is called organum.’ To the same effect Isidore Orig. II. xx. In Eng. adopted first in the musical sense; in OE. in the more general sense of ‘musical instrument’, including, no doubt, that of ‘church-organ’.]
    I. A musical instrument.
    † 1. Applied vaguely in a general sense to various musical (esp. wind) instruments; chiefly in versions of Scripture or allusions thereto (often understood in sense 2). Obs. (exc. as a verbal rendering of Gr. or L.)

c 1000 ælfric Gen. iv. 21 Iubal..wæs fæder herpera and þæra þe organan macodan [Vulg. canentium cithara et organo]. c 1000 Ags. Ps. cxxxvi. 2 On saliᵹ we sariᵹe..ure organan [organa] up-ahengan. c 1000 Apollonius 25 Ða organa wæron ᵹetoᵹene, and ða biman ᵹeblawene. a 1300 Cursor M. 1521 Cubal..Organis harp and oþer gleu, He drou þan oute o musik neu. a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxxxvi. 2 In þe wylghes in þe myddis of hit, we hang vp our orgoyns. 1382 Wyclif Job xxi. 12 They..ioȝen at the soun of the orgne. 1388 ― Ps. cxxxvi. 2 In salewis in the myddil therof; we hangiden vp oure orguns [1382 instrumens]. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 1072 With rote, ribible and clokarde, With pypes, organs and bumbarde. 1539 Bible (Great) Gen. iv. 21 Iubal, which was the father of such as handle harpe & organe. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 385 Will you play vpon this Pipe?.. There is much Musicke, excellent Voice, in this little Organe. 1611 Bible Ps. cl. 4 Praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 596 The Harp..the solemn Pipe, And Dulcimer, all Organs of sweet stop.

    2. spec. a. A musical instrument (in its modern form the largest and most comprehensive of all), consisting of a number of pipes, supplied with wind or compressed air by means of bellows, and sounded by means of keys, which on being pressed down admit the wind to the pipes by opening valves or pallets.
    In the modern organ the pipes are distributed into sets or stops of various qualities of tone, the admission of wind to the several stops being controlled by handles or draw-stops, drawn in and out by hand or by mechanism worked by special pedals (combination-pedals); and the stops are arranged in groups, each separate group forming a partial organ (see d) and being controlled by a separate keyboard; these are usually from two to five in number, one of the keyboards consisting of pedals played with the feet, the rest being manuals played with the hands; these can be connected in various ways by couplers so as to sound together.
    From its power and dignity of tone the organ has been distinctively the church instrument from early Christian times, and in modern times is also used in concert-halls and other buildings.
    The instrument has of course undergone immense changes since the 4th c., when it is first referred to in L. writers, and even since the date of the earliest Eng. references. According to Grove's Dict. Mus. II. 576, ‘At the commencement of the 8th c. the use of the organ was appreciated, and the art of making it was known in England’. But although mentioned from that period in Latin documents, no English quots. specifically in this sense are known in OE. or Early ME.

c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 31 His voys was murier than the murie orgon, On Messedayes that in the chirche gon. 1483 Cath. Angl. 261/1 An Organ, organum. To synge or to play (on þe) Organ, organizare. a 1661 Fuller Worthies iv. (1662) 33 The first Organ which was ever seen in the West of Europe, was, what was sent Anno 757 from Constantine the Grecian Emperor to Pipin King of France. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 708 As in an Organ from one blast of wind To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths. 1687 Dryden Song St. Cecilia's Day 44 What human Voice can reach The sacred Organ's praise? 1721 Bailey, Cabinet Organ, a small portable Organ. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 334 It is furnished with two fine organs, erected opposite to each other. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. viii. 123 Marinus Sanutus introduced organs into churches. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 353 Ctesiphon..is said to have invented a..hydraulic organ. 1898 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 336/1 The so-called hydraulic organ owed its utility and consequent fame to the fact, that in it water was used in such a manner as to counterbalance the hitherto variable pressure.

† b. Formerly in pl. denoting a single instrument. (After med.L. organa (Du Cange) similarly used, app. to express its composite character: the L. sing. organum had also the sense ‘pipe’. With ‘the organs’ cf. the bagpipes, the pipes.)

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11266 Þo þat couþe orgnes blowe. a 1340 Hampole Psalter cl. 4 Orgyns, þat is made as a toure of sere whistils. c 1386 Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 134 And whil the Organs [v. rr. Orgues, Organes, Orgles, Orgels, orgens] maden melodie To god allone in herte thus sang she. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 54 Thi organys so hihe begynne to syng ther messe. 1488 Croscombe Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 17 Payd to Thomas Rogg for pleyng at orgons iij^s iiij{supd}. c 1591 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 267 The long stall in the South porche before the Orgaines. 1601 F. Godwin Bps. of Eng. 452 He..could not only sing, but play very well vpon the organs. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. §113 Many Dissolute and Prophane People, went into the Abbey at Westminster, and would have pull'd down the Organs. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly 68 No more skill..than a Pig playing upon the Organs. 1708 Pope Ode St. Cecilia 11 The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow. 1746 Wesley Wks. (1872) II. 21 Then the organs began to play amain..The curate endeavoured to stop them. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Organs, an organ, the musical instrument.

† c. Also called a pair, or set, of organs. Obs.
(Pair here means ‘set’, not couple.)

1501 Bury Wills (Camden) 84, I wyll ther be bougth on peyr of orgonys to the chyrche of Wulpett. 1530 Palsgr. 183 Vnes orgues, a payre of organs, an instrument of musyke. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 95 Al the pipes and flutes of a paire of organs being set together. 1678 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 407 The church..containing a good set of organs before the warr time. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2141/4 Two pair of very fair Organs to be sold..One pair of Seven Stops, the other Four. 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1725) I. 97 With one pair of organs they can make the whole house ring.

d. Applied, with distinctive epithets, to the separate groups of stops (partial organs), each with its own keyboard, which make up an organ.
Of these the chief is the great organ, containing stops mostly of powerful tone; the others are the choir organ, containing lighter stops used for accompanying a choir (see choir organ); the (formerly used) echo organ, inclosed in a case, for producing a soft and distant effect, and its successor the swell organ, inclosed in a swell-box capable of being opened or shut by a swell pedal so as to produce crescendo or diminuendo effects; the solo organ, in which each stop is of special quality of tone, adapted for playing a solo melody accompanied by other stops; and the pedal organ, containing the stops of lowest pitch, forming a bass to the manuals.

1606–7, etc. [see choir organ]. 1613 Organ Specif. Worcester Cathedral, The particulars of the great organ. 1660 Specif. Organ Banqueting Room, Whitehall in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 590 Great Organ, 10 stops... Eccho Organ, 4 stops. 1876 J. Hiles Catech. Organ i. (1878) 3 The fourth manual, the Solo Organ, contains pipes of a particular species, on a high pressure of wind and voiced specially for Solo playing. 1898 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 337/2 A complete organ may be said to consist of five parts: choir organ, great organ, swell organ, solo organ, and pedal organ... A large organ therefore consists of a number of small organs differing in quality of tone, and so arranged as to be under the control of one performer.

3. a. Applied to other musical instruments, as in Dutch organ.

1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1248 A band..consisted of a double drum, a Dutch organ, the tambourine.

fig. 1844 Zoologist II. 727 The croaking..being so loud and shrill, as to have obtained for these frogs the name of ‘Cambridgeshire nightingales’, and ‘Whaddon organs’!

b. = barrel-organ: cf. organ-grinder in 8.

1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xviii, ‘You must be more careful, sir’, said Jerry, walking coolly to the chair where he had placed the organ, and setting the stop. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps v. §24 He..would also, if he might, give grinding organs to God's angels to make their music easier.

c. A keyboard wind-instrument with metal reeds, bellows mostly worked by treadles, and (usually) a number of stops; an instrument of the harmonium class; a reed-organ. American organ: a reed-organ in which the air is drawn inwards to the reeds, instead of being driven outwards as in the harmonium proper.

1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 25/1 American Organ, an instrument having one or more manuals, and registers which control series of free reeds. 1880 E. Prout in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 61 The American organ under its present name..was first introduced by Messrs. Mason and Hamlin of Boston, about the year 1860. 1880 A. J. Hipkins ibid. I. 667 He was induced to secure to himself the sole privilege of using the name Harmonium in France, thus forcing other makers to use the name Organ, and thus to add another stone to the cairn of confusion in musical instrument nomenclature.

† 4. Mediæval Mus. = organum 2. Obs.

c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 91 Wiþ knackynge of newe song, as orgen or deschant. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 7 And how osanna by orgone olde folk songe.

II. An instrument generally.
5. a. A part or member of an animal or plant body adapted by its structure for a particular vital function, as digestion, respiration, excretion, reproduction, locomotion, perception, etc.

c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 2480 Alle þe remanent of my body..Excepte þe organys of þe lemys þe whyche gouernede my wyttus fyue. 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 132/1 The bodye, kepyng yet stil his shappe & his organis not much perished. 1578 Banister Hist. Man viii. 108 The hand, beyng..the organ of organes, and an organ before all other organs. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 62 Hath not a Iew hands, organs, dementions, sences, affections, passions? 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 390 The parts of our body, by which we perceive any thing, are those we commonly call the organs of sense. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 375 That Configuration which there is in the Organs of speech upon the framing of several Letters. 1759 B. Stillingfleet tr. Biberg's Econ. Nature in Misc. Tracts (1762) 59 The organs of generation are contained in the flower. 1773 Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 486 Two branches, which pass to the electric organ through the gills. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. §25 (1864) 65 The organ of mind is not the brain by itself: it is the brain, nerves, muscles, organs of sense and viscera. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 221 In the centre of each flower is found a hollow organ, the pistil.

b. The human organs of speech or voice collectively; the larynx and its accessories as used in speaking or singing. (Somewhat rare; perh. associated with sense 1 or 2.)

1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. iv. 33 Thy small pipe Is as the maidens organ, shrill, and sound. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. vii. 102 Uttering cries..deeper than was in the power of any human organ. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. i. 226 The boy's organ vibrates more rapidly than the man's. 1860 Reade Cloister & H. lv. (1896) 151 A little muttering was heard outside; Denys's rough organ and a woman's soft and mellow voice.

c. Phrenol. One of the regions of the brain held to be the seat or material centre of particular mental faculties or tendencies.

1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 210 His organ for thieving is very visible; he has likewise the organ of representation. 1836 J. Grant Random Recoll. Ho. Lords xiv. 332 The organ of combativeness is most prominently developed. 1860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. v, Such vigilant cherub would..have that gallant officer's organ of destructiveness out of his head.

d. Used in the names of special structures in the animal body, denominated after their discoverers, as:
organ of Bojanus, the nephridium or urinary apparatus in molluscs; organ of Corti, a complicated structure in the cochlea of the ear, supposed to be the essential auditory apparatus; organ of Giraldes, the remnant of the Wolffian body in the male, the parepididymis; organ of Rosenmüller, the remnant of the Wolffian body in the female, the parovarium.

1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. 478 The renal organs, or organs of Bojanus, are usually two in number. 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex., s.v. Corti, The organ of Corti is developed from the epiblast cells lining the canalis cochlearis. 1885 Ibid., Giraldes, organ of, the three or more small irregular masses situated in front of the spermatic cord, just above the head of the epididymis. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 133 Organ of Bojanus or nephridium [in the Mussel]. 1897 Syd. Soc. Lex., Rosenmüller, organ of, the Parovarium.

† 6. Applied to certain mechanical contrivances, esp. fire-arms of more or less elaborate construction, machine-guns, etc.: see quots. Cf. orgue. Obs.

a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 91 b, And shot..great gonnes..The citezens of Mauns muche merveilyng at these newe orgaynes. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1033 Wee tooke thirteene field pieces, whereof foure were greater than the rest, which they called organes. 1729 G. Shelvocke Artillery v. 312 Cannons, Mortars, Petards &c. might be more properly called Organs than Machines. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Orgues, an organ, or machine, some⁓times used in a sea-fight by privateers: it contains several barrels of small arms, fixed upon one stock, so as to be all fired together.

III. An instrument. fig.
7. a. A means of action or operation, an instrument, a ‘tool’; a person, body of persons, or thing by which some particular purpose is carried out or some function is performed. arch.

a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 113 b, An enchanteresse, an orgayne of the deuill, sent from Sathane. Ibid. 158 b, He was noted to be the very organ, engine, and diviser of the destruccion of..the good duke of Gloucester. 1675 Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. ii. 28 God knoweth all Names, Notions, Propositions and Syllogisms, with their modes; as they are the measures, organs or actings of Humane Understandings. 1801 A. Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 225 To provide a faithful and efficient organ for carrying into execution the laws of the United States, which otherwise would be a dead letter. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 529 James..afraid that his enemies might get this organ of his will [the great seal] into their hands. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. I. ix. 116 The functions which these officials discharge belong in America to the State Governments or to the organs of local governments.

b. A mental or spiritual faculty regarded as an instrument of the mind or soul; sometimes as compared to a bodily organ (sense 5).

1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 180/2 That is Intellect; this the natural Organ accommodated for Judgment. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 96. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xxxviii. (1870) II. 374 Faith,—Belief,—is the organ by which we apprehend what is beyond our knowledge. 1850 McCosh Div. Govt. iii. (1874) 298 The conscience is not the law itself, it is merely the organ which makes it known to us—the eye that looks to it.

c. An instrument, means, or medium of communication, or of expression of opinion; spec. applied to a newspaper or journal which serves as the mouthpiece of a particular party, denomination, cause, movement, or pursuit.

1788 Reid Aristotle's Log. iv §3. 76 The silly and uninstructive reasonings..brought forth by this grand organ of science. 1806 M. Cutler in Life, Jrnls. & Corr. (1888) II. 336, I am now, in compliance with the order of this ecclesiastical council, and as their organ, to address you. 1826 E. Irving Babylon II. 385 Not only..the men, but..the organs of the men, the distempered newspapers which they pour in amongst you. 1853 Bright Sp. India 3 June, A newspaper which was generally considered throughout India to be the organ of the Government. 1882 Athenæum 11 Mar. 309/1 The various branches of natural science..have their special organs, by means of which their votaries can communicate with one another.

8. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 2) organ-bench, organ-blast, organ-case, organ-curtain, organ-harmony, organ-key, organ-music, organ-note, organ-peal, organ-prelude, organ recital, organ-seat, organ-song, organ-tone, organ-voice; organ-like, organ-toned adjs.; (sense 5) organ albumin, organ current, organ proteid, organ regeneration, organ transplant, organ transplantation; organ-beater (tr. med.L. pulsator organorum), a player on a mediæval organ, with large keys struck with the fist; organ-bird, a name for the South American Cyphorhinus cantans and a Tasmanian species of Gymnorhina, from their notes; organ-blower, a person who works the bellows of an organ; also a mechanical contrivance for the same purpose; organ-builder, one who ‘builds’ or constructs organs; so organ-building; organ-cactus, the giant cactus or saguaro, Carnegiea gigantea, found in south-western North America and so called from its resemblance to the pipes of an organ; organ clock (see quot. 1962); organ-coral = organ-pipe coral; organ-fish, a name for Sciæna ocellata of the Southern U.S., also called drum-fish (see drum n.¹ 11); organ-gallery, a gallery in a church or other building, in which the organ is placed; organ-grinder, an itinerant street musician who turns the handle of a barrel-organ (see grind v.¹ 7); so organ-grinding adj. and n.; organ-gun, a firearm having several charged chambers set side by side like organ-pipes (cf. 6); organ-harmonium, a large harmonium of elaborate construction or powerful tone, adapted to take the place of an organ; organ-loft, a loft or gallery in which an organ is placed; organ-maker (now rare), a maker of organs, an organ-builder; organ-man, (a) a man employed in building or repairing an organ; (b) = organ-grinder; † organ-metal, metal used for the pipes of an organ; organ-piano, a pianoforte with a special contrivance for producing a sustained tone as in the organ; also called melopiano; organ-player (now rare), one who plays an organ, an organist; organ pleat = organ-pipe 3 c; organ-point (Mus.) = pedal-point; organ-rest (Her.) = clarion n. 2 (1846 in Worcester); organ-screen, an ornamental screen on which an organ is placed in a cathedral or other church; † organ-soler Obs. [see soler], an organ-loft or organ-gallery; organ specificity Biol., specificity towards a particular organ, esp. as exhibited by an antigen, so organ-specific a.; organ-stop, a stop, or set of pipes of the same quality of tone, in an organ (see 2); also fig. (see stop n.²). See also organ-pipe.

1892 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Organ albumin, the albumin which constitutes part of a tissue in contradistinction from the circulating albumin of the fluids.

1877 Hopkins & Rimbault Organ 33 They [the keys] were struck down by the fist of the player..whence..arose the expression *organ-beater. 1880 Hopkins in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 580 There were probably nearly as many springs for the organ-beater to overcome as there were pipes to sound.

1863 Bates Nat. Amazon xiii. (1864) 448, I frequently heard..the ‘realejo’ or *organ-bird.., the most remarkable songster, by far, of the Amazonian forests. 1893 Newton Dict. Birds 404 Tasmania has..the Organ-bird of the colonists, G. hyperleuca,..or organica.

1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vii. i, The rushing of a mighty *organ-blast.

1540 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 4 Payd to the *organ bloere for his yeares wages..ijs. viijd. 1719 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 214 Chamber for ye Organ-blower.

1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6347/3 Renatus Harris, of London, *Organ-Builder.

1859 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. II. lxxxviii. 60, I have, as you know, a weakness for *Organ-building.

1883 W. H. Bishop in Harper's Mag. Mar. 502/2 We made haste..to cut down an example of the..saguaras, the *organ-cactus. 1947 Time 10 Mar. 18/2 The two Presidents rode between rows of organ cacti.

1644 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 513 Solut' Ashley pro taking downe the *Orgaine case, 0. 3. 0.

1956 G. H. Baillie et al. Britten's Old Clocks & Watches (ed. 7) 155 Musical and *organ-clocks became more popular during the last half of the eighteenth century. 1962 E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches 126 Organ clock, clock playing a small pipe organ every three hours. Popular in the second half of the eighteenth century. 1973 Times 2 Jan. (Europe Suppl.) p. xii/2 The centrepiece of the show will be an organ clock by Charles Clay.

1892 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Organ current, the current existing in the electrical organ of certain fishes.

1766 Entick London IV. 213 The *organ-gallery is supported with Corinthian columns.

1806–7 Beresford Miseries Hum. Life 73 While an *organ-grinder, or ballad-singer..are exhausting their whole stock of dissonances. 1887 Spectator 26 Mar. 412/2 The Italian fruit-vendor or organ-grinder is often a retired workman.

1806 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Tristia Wks. 1812 V. 305 The *organ-grinding Girl, whose discords kill. 1881 Macm. Mag. XLIII. 436/1 The organ-grinding branch of the musical profession.

1883 Daily News 19 Sept. 3/3 After passing between two fine old ‘*organ guns’, cannons with half-a-dozen or more barrels.

1864 Webster, *Organ-harmonium, an harmonium of large capacity and power, designed as an economical substitute for the organ.

1842 Tennyson Sir Galahad 75 A rolling *organ-harmony Swells up.

1878 B. Taylor Deukalion ii. i. 54 Cecilia, sitting at her *organ keys.

1543 Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 190 In the *organe loft. 1664 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 156 The doore beneath the organ loft. 1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle L. iii. 100 The panels of the organ-loft and the screen are all beautifully painted.

1431 in Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 22 note, John Gyse, *organe maker. 1542 in Glasscock Rec. St. Michaels (1882) 43 Item for fetching of the orgon makers toolis viijd. 1809–10 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 521 Paid Mr. Elliot Organ-Maker for repairing and compleating the Organ.

1626 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 296 Imprimis geven to the *organman for goinge to Durham about wood, xijd. 1868 Helps Realmah xvii. (1869) 468 The polka which the organman was grinding out.

1578 in Kerry St. Lawrence Reading (1883) 62 Solde to Rocke 37 li. of leade which was *organ metall, viijs. vjd.

1869 G. Meredith Let. 25 June (1970) I. 382 He [sc. Poe] gave the idea shape in a fine roll of *organ music. 1934 Organ music [see mimsey a.].

1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 243 The nyghtyngall shewyth his *organe notis. 1921 A. Huxley Let. 8 Sept. (1969) 204 Papini..one can read with much pleasure... Great sharpness and clarity and wit combined with melody and organ notes and sweeping gesture. 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 3 Oct. 26 The organ-note of four engines hoisting the flying boat into the air. 1958 Wodehouse Cocktail Time iii. 29 A good bishop, denouncing from the pulpit with the right organ note in his voice.

1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 76 Again the *organ-peal, loud, rolling, meets The hallelujahs of the choir.

1544 Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading 70 The *Organ player for his yeres wages, iij^li x^s. a 1640 J. Ball Answ. Art. Can i. (1642) 143 Squealing choristers, organ-players..vergerers.

1886 Pall Mall G. 3 June 8/1 The train is slightly rounded, and falls in two *organ pleats.

1897 R. Kipling Capt. Cour. 250 The skipper lurched into his seat as an *organ-prelude silenced him.

1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 186 An increase in destruction of *organ proteid.

1881 Harper's Mag. May 814/1 Piano and *organ recitals have long been fashionable. 1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 9/1 3.0.—Organ recital at Steinway Hall, London. 1974 Times 12 Nov. 15/2 No one would be happier than I to have Sunday afternoon organ recitals once again at the Palace.

1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. ix. 174 Among reptilia, lizards are the only animals which possess even the power of *organ-regeneration. 1972 L. V. Polezhaev Organ Regeneration in Animals i. 3 It is conventional to divide all animals into..those which are capable of organ regeneration and those which are not.

1540 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 4 Mendynge of the locke on the *organ-soler dore.

c 1425 St. Elizabeth of Spalbeck in Anglia VIII. 109/31 A wrast, þat is an instrument of *organ-songe.

1936 K. Landsteiner Specificity Serol. Reactions iii. 64 Upon injection of the *organ specific substances. 1971 J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man xvii. 210 Organ-specific inhibitors are known from many tissues.

1911 Jrnl. Exper. Med. XIV. 48 Absolutely no *organ specificity is demonstrable as regards the agglutination experiments. 1968 H. Harris Nucleus & Cytoplasm iv. 78 It has been contended that the pattern of puffing shows organ specificity but the evidence for this does not seem to be at all conclusive.

1644 Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 101/2 Sometimes the lute or soft *organ stop waiting on elegant voices. 1880 Hopkins in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 403 Cornet. This name is given to several kinds of organ stops. 1955 A. L. Rowse Expansion Eliz. Eng. 27 The Queen..was furious... At once all the organ-stops are out. 1971 P. Worsthorne Socialist Myth iii. 37 The Tory Party has..a liking for the language of togetherness, and real patriotic fervour. These are the organ-stops it can pull out with genuine faith and zest.

1819 Keats Hyperion i, in Lamia & other Poems (1820) 148 She spake In solemn tenour and deep *organ tone. 1894 ‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. Mar. 773 There was nothing weak in the deep organ tones that responded. 1895 New Age 12 Sept. 372/2 An organ-toned voice of prodigious depth. 1901 Q. Rev. July 122 Milton could not have produced his organ-tones on a ‘scrannel pipe’.

1922 Joyce Ulysses 454 The strains of the *organtoned melodeon.

1968 Listener 18 July 90/2 Idea-transplants are as difficult as *organ-transplants: in both cases human beings have a built-in mechanism for rejection. 1970 Memorandum Organtranspl. (Netherlands Red Cross) §5c Should an organ transplant be considered..it will be desirable not to have the diagnosis of the donor's death made by one physician only. 1971 Essentials from Rep. Organtranspl. (Netherlands Red Cross) 3 It was considered necessary, in the context of organtransplantations, to establish a precise..criterion of..death.

1864 Tennyson Milton 3 God-gifted *organ-voice of England, Milton, a name to resound for ages.

Add: [II.] [5.] e. spec. The penis; also male organ. Freq. in colloq. or euphem. use. Cf. male a. 1 d, 2 a and member n. 1 b.

1903 Eng. Dial. Dict. IV. 503/1 Pill,..the male organ, the penis. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 266 —Sure, you'd burst the tympanum of her ear, man,..with an organ like yours... —Not to mention another membrane. Ibid. 299 That part of the human anatomy known as the penis or male organ. 1967 M. Campbell Lord dismiss Us (1968) iv. 19 He had the largest organ that anyone had ever seen. It was a truncheon. 1973 L. Hellman Pentimento 174 Asking myself whether talk about the size of the male organ isn't a homosexual preoccupation. 1987 Fiction Mag. June 4/3 Ah, bliss was it..to have your eager organ, rigid pole, no, your Excalibur withdraw and plunge again into another delirious, mutual climax.

▪ II. † organ, n.² Obs. exc. dial.
    Also 6 organe, 7 orgaine.
    [Corrupt ad. L. origanum, Gr. ὀρίγανον.]
    = origan; penny-royal.

c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 236 Ðeos wyrt þe man origanum & oðrum naman..organan nemneþ is hattre ᵹecynde. c 1265 Vocab. Plant-n. in Wr.-Wülcker 557/19 Organum, organe. 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 57, I neuer sawe the trewe organ in England..our commune organ..is called origanum syluestre in latin, and in some places in England wylde mergerum. 1620 Venner Via Recta ii. 44 Take of the tops of Rosemary, of Sage, of Marioram, of Orgaine,..of each one handfull. 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 30 Pulegium angustifolium sive Cervinum..Wee in English [call it] Penny-royall, Pudding grasse, and Pulioll-royall, and in the West parts, as about Exeter, Organs. 1640 G. H. Witts Recreations C vj b, A good wife, once a bed of Organs set, The pigs came in and eate up every whit. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Organ,..the plant Penny-royal (Mentha pulegium)... It is chopped small and put into a mess called ‘Tea-kettle broth’,..often called ‘Organ broth’.

▪ III. organ
    short for organ ling, a kind of fish.
▪ IV. ˈorgan, v. rare.
    [f. organ n.¹]
    † 1. trans. To furnish with an organ or organs; to organize. Obs.

1652 Benlowes Theoph. iv. lvii. 59 While lungs my Breath shall organ I'l press still Th' Exinanition of my o'regrown will. 1681 Manningham Disc. 89 Alas!..thou art Elemented and Organ'd for other Apprehensions.

2. To play on an organ (intr. and trans.). organ out (quot. 1837), to dismiss by playing on an organ, to ‘play out’.

1827 Carlyle Germ. Rom. III. 301, I organed, my gossip managing the bellows. 1837 ― Fr. Rev. I. iii. iii, As in a kind of choral anthem, or bravura peal, of thanks.. the Notables are, so to speak, organed out, and dismissed to their respective places of abode. 1844 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 141 There is a dreadful vulgar ballad..which is sung and organed at every corner in London. c 1870 Blackie in W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownshire (1875) 57 Anthems organed from rich cloistered halls.

Hence ˈorganing vbl. n., organ-playing.

1827 Carlyle Germ. Rom. II. 302 There was such a piping and organing. 1878 Stevenson Inland Voy. (1896) 173 Laboriously edified with chaunts and organings.