Or"gan (?), n. [L. organum, Gr.
?; akin to ? work, and E. work: cf. F. organe. See
Work, and cf. Orgue, Orgy.]
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.
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.
☞ 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.
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.
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.
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 considired an organ.
The deep, majestic, solemn organs
blow.
Pope.
☞ Chaucer used the form orgon as a plural.
The merry orgon . . . that in the church goon
[go].
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
(Zoöl.), a Tasmanian crow shrike (Gymnorhina
organicum). It utters discordant notes like those of a hand organ
out of tune. -- Organ fish
(Zoöl.), the drumfish. -- Organ
gun. (Mil.) Same as Orgue
(b). -- Organ harmonium
(Mus.), an harmonium of large capacity and power. --
Organ of Gorti (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. (Zoöl.) See Tubipora. --
Organ point (Mus.), a passage in which
the tonic or dominant is sustained continuously by one part, while
the other parts move.