music box

noun

1. a box or case containing an apparatus for producing music mechanically, as by means of a comblike steel plate with tuned teeth sounded by small pegs or pins in the surface of a revolving cylinder or disk.

music box

noun

1. a mechanical instrument that plays tunes by means of pins on a revolving cylinder striking the tuned teeth of a comblike metal plate, contained in a box

Word History and Origins

Origin of music box¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

Still, my 3-year-old carried her music box around all week, subbing out the Elsa Tonie for the Lightning McQueen Tonie at a rate that definitely frustrated her older, much more patient cousins.

From Popular-Science

Grief and solace are intertwined in these artifacts, from a 50-year-old mixer that reminds one woman of her dad who loved to bake to a music box inscribed with “To My Gorgeous Wife.”

From Time

A bayonet was shoved through the music box in another business, and a grocery store was pillaged.

From Washington Post

After making his way through the room and down the stairs, the sound of a music box grows louder.

From Washington Post

The painting is of a human heart set inside a wind-up music box that has a metal rod poking out of the pulmonary artery.

From The Daily Beast

Music Box: An ornate music box that figures prominently into the Dark Shadows mythos.

From The Daily Beast

“I made a story in my mind where the captain of the toy solders is in love with the music-box ballerina,” she says.

From The Daily Beast

But Mill might have said the same thing about the price of a music box, provided it was properly patented, anywhere at all.

From Project Gutenberg

What do you want to do with the fiddle—think it's a music box?

From Project Gutenberg

And it must have been; every morning for eighty-nine days the gaudy music box faithfully played the tune over and over again.

From Project Gutenberg

For about a minute the music-box plays intermittent airs behind the curtain, as if it was turned by some hand.

From Project Gutenberg

The music-box, which has one of these handles, plays at the same time behind the curtain in perfect synchronism.

From Project Gutenberg