organ Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an animal that is specialized for some particular function
  2. noun a government agency or instrument devoted to the performance of some specific function
    • The Census Bureau is an organ of the Commerce Department
  3. noun (music) an electronic simulation of a pipe organ
    electronic organ; electric organ; Hammond organ.
  4. noun a periodical that is published by a special interest group
    • the organ of the communist party
  5. noun 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
    pipe organ.
  6. noun a free-reed instrument in which air is forced through the reeds by bellows
    reed organ; harmonium.

WordNet

Or"gan noun
Etymology
L. organum, Gr. akin to work, and E. work: cf. F. organe. See Work, and cf. Orgue, Orgy.
Definitions
  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].
Or"gan transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To supply with an organ or organs; to fit with organs; to organize. Obs.
    Thou art elemented and organed for other apprehensions. Bp. Mannyngham.

Webster 1913