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hurdy-gurdy

American  
[hur-dee-gur-dee, -gur-] / ˈhɜr diˈgɜr di, -ˌgɜr- /

noun

plural

hurdy-gurdies

  1. a barrel organ or similar musical instrument played by turning a crank.

  2. a lute- or guitar-shaped stringed musical instrument sounded by the revolution against the strings of a rosined wheel turned by a crank.

hurdy-gurdy British  
/ ˈhɜːdɪˈɡɜːdɪ /

noun

  1. any mechanical musical instrument, such as a barrel organ

  2. a medieval instrument shaped like a viol in which a rosined wheel rotated by a handle sounds the strings

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

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.