hydraulus

[ hahy-draw-luhs ]

noun

, plural hy·drau·li [hahy-, draw, -lahy], hy·drau·lus·es.

1. a pipe organ of ancient Greece and Rome using water pressure to maintain the air supply.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hydraulus¹

1870–75; < Latin < Greek hýdraulos water organ, equivalent to hydr- hydr- ¹ + aulós pipe

Example Sentences

The first mechanical pipe organ, a water-driven monster called a hydraulus, so awed the ancients that they enshrined it in a temple of Venus.

From Time Magazine Archive

They called it an hydraulus because air was fed into its pipes by a water contrivance.

From Time Magazine Archive