Melodeon
//məˈloʊdi.ən// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A type of reed organ with a single keyboard. historical
"The thin, nearsighted young woman who had been humped over the keyboard of the melodeon, straightened up. The worshipers relaxed a little and began to look about."
- 2 A music hall. US, historical
- 3 An accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys.
"But Chae said it didn't matter, he'd bring his melodeon and Long Rob his fiddle; and faith! if that didn't content the folk they were looking for a church parade of the Gordons, not a wedding."
Example
More examples"The thin, nearsighted young woman who had been humped over the keyboard of the melodeon, straightened up. The worshipers relaxed a little and began to look about."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From French mélodium, with change of ending.
Etymology 2
From melo- + odeon.
Related phrases
More for "melodeon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.