Found 1 items, similar to Great organ.
English → English (gcide) Definition: Great organ Great \Great\ (gr[=a]t), a. [Compar. Greater; superl. Greatest.] [OE. gret, great, AS. gre['a]t; akin to OS. & LG. gr[=o]t, D. groot, OHG. gr[=o]z, G. gross. Cf. Groat the coin.] 1. Large in space; of much size; big; immense; enormous; expanded; -- opposed to small and little; as, a great house, ship, farm, plain, distance, length. [1913 Webster] 2. Large in number; numerous; as, a great company, multitude, series, etc. [1913 Webster] 3. Long continued; lengthened in duration; prolonged in time; as, a great while; a great interval. [1913 Webster] 4. Superior; admirable; commanding; -- applied to thoughts, actions, and feelings. [1913 Webster] 5. Endowed with extraordinary powers; uncommonly gifted; able to accomplish vast results; strong; powerful; mighty; noble; as, a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, etc. [1913 Webster] 6. Holding a chief position; elevated: lofty: eminent; distinguished; foremost; principal; as, great men; the great seal; the great marshal, etc. [1913 Webster] He doth object I am too great of birth. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 7. Entitled to earnest consideration; weighty; important; as, a great argument, truth, or principle. [1913 Webster] 8. Pregnant; big (with young). [1913 Webster] The ewes great with young. --Ps. lxxviii. 71. [1913 Webster] 9. More than ordinary in degree; very considerable in degree; as, to use great caution; to be in great pain. [1913 Webster] We have all Great cause to give great thanks. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 10. (Genealogy) Older, younger, or more remote, by single generation; -- often used before grand to indicate one degree more remote in the direct line of descent; as, great-grandfather (a grandfather's or a grandmother's father), great-grandson, etc. [1913 Webster] Great bear (Astron.), the constellation Ursa Major. Great cattle (Law), all manner of cattle except sheep and yearlings. --Wharton. Great charter (Eng. Hist.), Magna Charta. Great circle of a sphere, a circle the plane of which passes through the center of the sphere. Great circle sailing, the process or art of conducting a ship on a great circle of the globe or on the shortest arc between two places. Great go, the final examination for a degree at the University of Oxford, England; -- called also greats. --T. Hughes. Great guns. (Naut.) See under Gun. The Great Lakes the large fresh-water lakes (Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) which lie on the northern borders of the United States. Great master. Same as Grand master, under Grand. Great organ (Mus.), the largest and loudest of the three parts of a grand organ (the others being the choir organ and the swell, and sometimes the pedal organ or foot keys), It is played upon by a separate keyboard, which has the middle position. The great powers (of Europe), in modern diplomacy, Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, and Italy. Great primer. See under Type. Great scale (Mus.), the complete scale; -- employed to designate the entire series of musical sounds from lowest to highest. Great sea, the Mediterranean sea. In Chaucer both the Black and the Mediterranean seas are so called. Great seal. (a) The principal seal of a kingdom or state. (b) In Great Britain, the lord chancellor (who is custodian of this seal); also, his office. Great tithes. See under Tithes. The great, the eminent, distinguished, or powerful. The Great Spirit, among the North American Indians, their chief or principal deity. To be great (with one), to be intimate or familiar (with him). --Bacon. [1913 Webster] Organ \Or"gan\, n. [L. organum, Gr. ?; akin to ? work, and E. work: cf. F. organe. See Work, and cf. Orgue, Orgy.] [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 2. (Biol.) 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. A newsletter distributed within an organization is often called its house organ. [1913 Webster +PJC] 5. [Cf. AS. organ, fr. L. organum.] (Mus.) 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 considered an organ. [1913 Webster] The deep, majestic, solemn organs blow. --Pope. [1913 Webster] Note: Chaucer used the form orgon as a plural. [1913 Webster] The merry orgon . . . that in the church goon [go]. [1913 Webster] 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 (Zo["o]l.), a Tasmanian crow shrike (Gymnorhina organicum ). It utters discordant notes like those of a hand organ out of tune. Organ fish (Zo["o]l.), the drumfish. Organ gun. (Mil.) Same as Orgue (b) . Organ harmonium (Mus.), an harmonium of large capacity and power. Organ of Corti (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. (Zo["o]l.) See Tubipora. Organ point (Mus.), a passage in which the tonic or dominant is sustained continuously by one part, while the other parts move. [1913 Webster]