Organ

Organ, or′gan, n. an instrument or means by which anything is done: a part of a body fitted for carrying on a natural or vital operation: a means of communication, or of conveying information or opinions from one to another of two parties, as an ambassador, a newspaper, &c.: a musical wind instrument consisting of a collection of pipes made to sound by means of compressed air from bellows, and played upon by means of keys: a system of pipes in such an organ, having an individual keyboard, a partial organ: a musical instrument having some mechanism resembling the pipe-organ, as the barrel-organ, &c.—ns. Or′gan-build′er, one who constructs organs; Or′gan-grind′er, a fellow who plays a hand-organ by a crank; Or′gan-harmō′nium, a large harmonium used instead of a pipe-organ.—adjs. Organ′ic, -al, pertaining to an organ: organised: instrumental.—adv. Organ′ically.—n. Organ′icalness.—v.t. Organ′ify, to add organic matter to.—n. Organisabil′ity.—adj. Organis′able, that may be organised.—n. Organisā′tion, the act of organising: the state of being organised.—v.t. Or′ganīse, to supply with organs: to form several parts into an organised whole, to arrange.—ns. Or′ganīser; Or′ganism, organic structure, or a body exhibiting such: a living being, animal or vegetable.—adj. Or′ganismal.—ns. Or′ganist, one who plays on an organ; Or′gan-loft, the loft where an organ stands; Organog′eny, Organogen′esis, history of the development of living organs; Organog′raphy, a description of the organs of plants or animals; Organol′ogy, the study of structure and function; Or′gan-pipe, one of the sounding pipes of a pipe-organ (flue-pipes and reed-pipes); Or′gan-point, a note sustained through a series of chords, although only in harmony with the first and last; Or′ganry, the music of the organ; Or′gan-screen, an ornamental stone or wood screen, on which a secondary organ is sometimes placed in cathedrals; Orguinette′, a mechanical musical instrument, with reeds and exhaust-bellows.—Organic chemistry, the chemistry of substances of animal or vegetable origin, prior to 1828 supposed to be capable of formation only as products of vital processes: the chemistry of the compounds of carbon; Organic disease, a disease accompanied by changes in the structures involved; Organic remains, fossil remains of a plant or animal.—Hydraulic organ, one whose bellows is operated by a hydraulic motor. [Fr. organe—L. organum—Gr. organon.]