hurdy-gurdy
Americannoun
plural
hurdy-gurdies-
a barrel organ or similar musical instrument played by turning a crank.
-
a lute- or guitar-shaped stringed musical instrument sounded by the revolution against the strings of a rosined wheel turned by a crank.
noun
-
any mechanical musical instrument, such as a barrel organ
-
a medieval instrument shaped like a viol in which a rosined wheel rotated by a handle sounds the strings
Other Word Forms
- hurdy-gurdist noun
- hurdy-gurdyist noun
Etymology
Origin of hurdy-gurdy
1740–50; variant of Scots hirdy-girdy uproar, influencedby hurly-burly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In addition to his standard arsenal of electrified gizmos and samples, a constant presence on the record is the hurdy-gurdy, a medieval instrument that generates a drone via a hand-cranked wheel that vibrates strings.
Plinking, cascading xylophone and marimba sounds and the nasal, pumping string tones of a hurdy-gurdy circle through “Walker,” a meditation on getting through grief that’s named after the songwriter Scott Walker.
From New York Times
Soon after, all of us, freshly unmuted, recited a hurdy-gurdy version of the Serenity Prayer in something far less than unison.
From New York Times
“Without you knowing about it, there can be hundreds or thousands of musical niches – from hurdy-gurdy players to kora players to pedal steel players.”
From The Guardian
We see how the early sketches and etchings of street beggars, half-naked women and hurdy-gurdy musicians transform later in his career into figures that populate his biblical scenes.
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
