Bible dictionaries

Organ

What Bible dictionaries say about “Organ”, one article after the other.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary & Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Organ - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

Some kind of wind instrument, probably a kind of Pan's pipes (Gen. 4:21; Job 21:12; Ps. 150:4), which consisted of seven or eight reeds of unequal length.

Organ - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

OR'GAN, n. [L. organum; Gr.]

1. A natural instrument of action or operation, or by which some process is carried on. Thus the arteries and veins of animal bodies are organs of circulation; the lungs are organs of respiration; the nerves are organs of perception and sensation; the muscles are organs of motion; the ears are organs of hearing; the tongue is the organ of speech.

2. The instrument or means of conveyance or communication. A secretary of state is the organ of communication between the government and a foreign power.

3. The largest and most harmonious of wind instruments of music, consisting of pipes which are filled with wind, and stops touched by the fingers. It is blown by a bellows.

Matthew George Easton, Easton’s Bible Dictionary; Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

The article in Easton + Webster 1828

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE 1915)

or'-gan.

See MUSIC.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia — James Orr, general editor and contributors; CrossWire SWORD module ISBE 2.2

The article in ISBE 1915

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

(Genesis 4:21; Job 21:12; 30:31; Psalms 150:4) The Hebrew word thus rendered probably denotes a pipe or perforated wind-instrument. In (Genesis 4:21) it appears to be a general term for all wind-instruments. In (Job 21:12) are enumerated three kinds of musical instruments which are possible under the general terms of the timbrel harp and oryan. Some identify it with the pandean pipe or syrinx an instrument of unquestionably ancient origin, and common in the East. [See Music]

William Smith; revised by F. N. Peloubet and M. A. Peloubet; CrossWire SWORD module Smith 1.3

The article in Smith