Thesaurus: organ

Related headwords

Definitions

1. n. 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. n. 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.
3. n. 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. n. 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. n. 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.
6. v. t. To supply with an organ or organs; to fit with organs; to organize.
7. n. a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an animal that is specialized for some particular function
8. n. a government agency or instrument devoted to the performance of some specific function
9. n. (music) an electronic simulation of a pipe organ
10. n. a periodical that is published by a special interest group
11. n. wind instrument whose sound is produced by means of pipes arranged in sets supplied with air from a bellows and controlled from a large complex musical keyboard
12. n. a free-reeded instrument with a piano keyboard in which air is forced through the reeds by bellows