Category:Organ

Or"gan, n. Etym: [l. organum, gr. work: cf. F. organe. See work, and Cf. Orgue, orgy.]

1. An instrument or medium by which some important action is performed, or an important end accomplished; as, legislatures, courts, armies, taxgatherers, etc., are organs of government.

2. (biol.)

Defn: a natural part or structure in an animal or a plant, capable of performing some special action (termed its function), which is essential to the life or well-being of the whole; as, the heart, lungs, etc., are organs of animals; the root, stem, foliage, etc., are organs of plants.

Note: in animals the organs are generally made up of several tissues, one of which usually predominates, and determines the principal function of the organ. Groups of organs constitute a system. See system.

3. A component part performing an essential office in the working of any complex machine; as, the cylinder, valves, crank, etc., are organs of the steam engine.

4. A medium of communication between one person or body and another; as, the secretary of state is the organ of communication between the government and a foreign power; a newspaper is the organ of its editor, or of a party, sect, etc.

5. Etym: [cf. As. organ, fr. L. organum.] (mus.)

Defn: a wind instrument containing numerous pipes of various dimensions and kinds, which are filled with wind from a bellows, and played upon by means of keys similar to those of a piano, and sometimes by foot keys or pedals; -- formerly used in the plural, each pipe being considired an organ. The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow. Pope.

Note: chaucer used the form orgon as a plural. The merry orgon. . . that in the church goon [go]. Barrel organ, choir organ, great organ, etc. See under barrel, choir, etc. -- cabinet organ (mus.), an organ of small size, as for a chapel or for domestic use; a reed organ. -- organ bird (zoöl.), a tasmanian crow shrike (gymnorhina organicum). It utters discordant notes like those of a hand organ out of tune. -- organ fish (zoöl.), the drumfish. -- organ gun. (mil.) Same as orgue (b). -- organ harmonium (mus.), an harmonium of large capacity and power. -- organ of gorti (anat.), a complicated structure in the cochlea of the ear, including the auditory hair cells, the rods or fibers of corti, the membrane of corti, etc. See note under ear. -- organ pipe. See pipe, n., 1. -- organ-pipe coral. (zoöl.) See tubipora. -- organ point (mus.), a passage in which the tonic or dominant is sustained continuously by one part, while the other parts move.

Organ Or"gan, v. t.

Defn: to supply with an organ or organs; to fit with organs; to organize. [obs.] Thou art elemented and organed for other apprehensions. Bp. Mannyngham.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Organ - Some kind of wind instrument, probably a kind of Pan's pipes (Genesis 4:21; Job 21:12; Psalms 150:4), which consisted of seven or eight reeds of unequal length.