Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A musical instrument fitted with steam whistles, played from a keyboard.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In Gr. Myth., the muse who presided over eloquence and heroic poetry. Also spelled
Kalliope . - noun [lowercase] The name given to a harsh musical instrument consisting of a number of steam-whistles tuned to produce different tones. Also called
steam-organ . - noun [NL.] In ornithology: A genus of small sylviine birds, related to Cyanecula, the type of which is an Asiatic warbler, Calliope kamchatkensis. Gould, 1836, The term had previously been the specific name of the same bird.
- noun [lowercase] The specific name of a humming-bird, Stellula calliope, inhabiting the western United States and Mexico, having the crown and back golden-green, the gorget violet and lilac, set in snowy-white.
- noun A genus of mammals.
- noun A genus of dipterous insects.
- noun A genus of amphipods.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Class. Myth.) The Muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry; mother of Orpheus, and chief of the nine Muses.
- noun (Astron.) One of the asteroids. See
Solar . - noun A musical instrument consisting of a series of steam whistles, toned to the notes of the scale, and played by keys arranged like those of an organ. It is sometimes attached to steamboat boilers.
- noun (Zoöl.) A beautiful species of humming bird (
Stellula Calliope ) of California and adjacent regions.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A musical
organ , consisting ofsteam whistles played with akeyboard . Often used withmerry-go-rounds .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a musical instrument consisting of a series of steam whistles played from a keyboard
- noun (Greek mythology) the Muse of epic poetry
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The mechanical calliope is louder now, adding to the urgency in my voice.
365 tomorrows » 2010 » February : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2010
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Incidentally, you'll be pegged as a first-of-May if you don't call the calliope a cally-ope.
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The "Southern Republic," from her immense size and unusually handsome equipment, was a novelty even to the river people; and each afternoon of her starting, crowds came aboard to bid farewell to friends and roam over the vessel, or collected on the bluffs above to see her swing out to the shrill notes of her "calliope," the best and least discordant on the river.
Four Years in Rebel Capitals An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death T. C. DeLeon
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There were bands on horses and bands on chariots, and at the tail of the procession a fearful and wonderful instrument bearing the euphonious and classic name of the "calliope," whose chief function seemed to be that of terrifying the farmers 'horses into frantic and determined attempts to escape from these horrid alarms of the city to the peaceful haunts of their rural solitudes.
Corporal Cameron of the North West Mounted Police; a tale of the Macleod trail Ralph Connor 1898
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Some years ago she encountered an out-of-tune calliope on a riverboat in New Orleans and, as she describes, became fascinated with old mechanical instruments, and the odd, detuned sounds that they produce as they deteriorate.
Rodney Punt: Annie Gosfield in Concert -- The Industrial Age Goes Avant-Garde Rodney Punt 2010
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Some years ago she encountered an out-of-tune calliope on a riverboat in New Orleans and, as she describes, became fascinated with old mechanical instruments, and the odd, detuned sounds that they produce as they deteriorate.
Rodney Punt: Annie Gosfield in Concert -- The Industrial Age Goes Avant-Garde Rodney Punt 2010
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However, she was not aware, until Davis settled in, that his nights were a continual calliope of snorts, wheezes, gasps, grunts and whistles — in several different keys, no less.
The Love Tap MaryAnne Kolton 2011
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Some years ago she encountered an out-of-tune calliope on a riverboat in New Orleans and, as she describes, became fascinated with old mechanical instruments, and the odd, detuned sounds that they produce as they deteriorate.
Rodney Punt: Annie Gosfield in Concert -- The Industrial Age Goes Avant-Garde Rodney Punt 2010
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Ghosts of the past and goblins of the future danced to the tune of a calliope.
Merry-Go-Round Jack Swenson 2011
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Some years ago she encountered an out-of-tune calliope on a riverboat in New Orleans and, as she describes, became fascinated with old mechanical instruments, and the odd, detuned sounds that they produce as they deteriorate.
Rodney Punt: Annie Gosfield in Concert -- The Industrial Age Goes Avant-Garde Rodney Punt 2010
ofravens commented on the word calliope
Makes me think of carousels. I'm not sure why.
April 11, 2008
reesetee commented on the word calliope
Lots of carousels come with calliope music...is that it?
April 11, 2008
ofravens commented on the word calliope
I don't think that's it, reesetee, because that connection didn't even occur to me until you mentioned it. :) I think it's the way the word feels when I say it, if that makes any sense? It... moves like a carousel, is the best way I can think of to put it.
April 13, 2008
reesetee commented on the word calliope
It does indeed--good way to describe it!
April 14, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word calliope
My inner classicist is wincing right now.
April 22, 2010
oroboros commented on the word calliope
An interlacing of CLIP + ALOE.
September 6, 2010
5814738 commented on the word calliope
The carousel's very silence, its flashing lights and steamy calliope music stilled forever, gave Jake a chill." From Wizard and Glass by Stephen King.
January 19, 2011
yarb commented on the word calliope
'Against the summer night the ferris wheel lights winked with the gaiety of rhinestones, the calliope's blast sounded as if the very steam pipes were tired.'
June 30, 2012