glassichord

Noun

glassichord (plural glassichords)

1. A 19th-century musical instrument made of glass plates that are struck by hammers or sticks.
   • A patent has been granted for the combination of the glassichord with the piano; and in the same connexion an improvement has been made in the tones of the glassichord itself, by a more elastic mode of suspending the strips of glass than has been before used.1844, United States. Patent Office, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents, page 514
   • Amongst other phenomena, let it be remembered that the glassichord and the drum were skilfully played upon with both sticks.1870, Modern American Spiritualism
2. Synonym of glass harmonica.
   • He revived and improved the harmonica, or glassichord, and extended his speculations to the finer arts; showing that he could taste and criticise even the compositions of a Handel!1879, Horace Wemyss Smith, Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William Smith
   • Curiously, he omitted the only indigenous instrument, Franklin's glassichord.1962, Lubov Breit Keefer, Baltimore's Music: The Haven of the American Composer, page 19

   Synonyms:

   glass harmonica

3. (figuratively) Anything that produces a similarly pure continuous sound.
   • The moveless, still air acted as a glassichord on the waters, which rang under the shrill voice of the singer.1867, Ersilia: or, The ordeal, page 130
   • Turning upon his perch , he brings to view his “glassichord," or shrilling organ, upon his back — a glass-like spot upon his wings just behind the thorax, or what might appear to be facetiously inclined as an exceedingly uncomfortable-looking collar.1887, William Hamilton Gibson, Happy Hunting-grounds: A Tribute to the Woods and Fields, page 119