Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A musical instrument fitted with steam whistles, played from a keyboard.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In Gr. Myth., the muse who presided over eloquence and heroic poetry. Also spelled Kalliope.
- n. [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.
- n. [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.
- n. [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.
- n. A genus of mammals.
- n. A genus of dipterous insects.
- n. A genus of amphipods.
Wiktionary
- n. A musical organ, consisting of steam whistles played with a keyboard. Often used with merry-go-rounds.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The Muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry; mother of Orpheus, and chief of the nine Muses.
- n. One of the asteroids. See Solar.
- n. 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.
- n. A beautiful species of humming bird (Stellula Calliope) of California and adjacent regions.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a musical instrument consisting of a series of steam whistles played from a keyboard
- n. (Greek mythology) the Muse of epic poetry
Etymologies
- From Calliope.
Examples
“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
“Incidentally, you'll be pegged as a first-of-May if you don't call the calliope a cally-ope.”
“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
“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
“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.”
“Ghosts of the past and goblins of the future danced to the tune of a calliope.”
“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.”
The Huffington Post: Rodney Punt: Annie Gosfield in Concert -- The Industrial Age Goes Avant-Garde
“Music: (you hear ... calliope music. sorry, in joke.)”
most serial killers don't have a particularly happy childhood.
“He contributed the film's, and the album's, most indelible musical moment: the plaintive solo at the end of "Racing in the Street," a customarily swirling, keening wail made of equal parts lonesome calliope, funeral dirge and call to the faithful.”
The Huffington Post: Peter Birkenhead: Meet the Old Boss: Springsteen Revisits Darkness
“Echoey yet whimsical calliope music has replaced the electric drone and far-off clang.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘calliope’.
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Bells and Whistles
Liberty Bell, Belle and Sebastian, Whistler's Mother, whistle stop, pennywhistle, whistle pig, wolf whistle, wet your whistle, barbell, bell jar, Bell's palsy, bell pepper and 136 more...
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Words describing beauty
Words associated with beauty, love, and a happy feeling!
whimsical, amatory, amorous, paradisiacal, calliope, callitriche, Callimachus, callinectes, calliphora, seraphic, calliopsis, callirhoe and 27 more...
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•Unexpected Pronunciation, Now! with Public Acc...
Inspired to publicity by the conversation at segway. Thanks, pals!
boatswain, clapboard, waistcoat, victuals, forecastle, solder, colonel, ensign, worcestershire sauce, creatinine, coelacanth, banal and 77 more...
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calli-, cal-
good, beautiful
callipygean, calisthenics, calligraphy, callimastian, callisteia, calliandra, Callicrates, callidity, Callimachus, calliope, callitriche, callisaurus and 10 more...
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Old, odd, or rare Western musical Instruments
preferably never listed or listed once or twice
clavicytherium, cymbalom, crumhorn, chitarrone, tromba marina, marine trumpet, lira da braccio, lirone, portative organ, positive organ, vielle, organistrum and 11 more...
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Words with a P in them
opalescent, apposite, kelp, culprit, corporeal, copper, impinge, impose, impetus, impassible, oppress, maple and 40 more...
Casey 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. Jan 19, 2011
oroboros An interlacing of CLIP + ALOE. Sep 6, 2010
milosrdenstvi My inner classicist is wincing right now. Apr 21, 2010
reesetee It does indeed--good way to describe it! Apr 14, 2008
ofravens 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. Apr 13, 2008
reesetee Lots of carousels come with calliope music...is that it? Apr 11, 2008
ofravens Makes me think of carousels. I'm not sure why. Apr 11, 2008