Meaning of organ grinder | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The player of a barrel organ.
2. The person who is in charge, rather than a lackey or representative; the person truly responsible for another's actions.
   figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“There is one beautiful sight in the East End, and only one, and it is the children dancing in the street when the organ-grinder goes his round.”

“The organ-grinders were at work; but they were always precocious harbingers. It was near enough spring for them to go penny-hunting when the skating ball dropped at the park.”

““You should read Spanish,” he said. “It is a noble tongue. It has not the mellifluousness of Italian, Italian is the language of tenors and organ-grinders, but it has grandeur: it does not ripple like a brook in a garden, but it surges tumultuous like a mighty river in flood.””

“Thus the vision of humanity appeared to be in some way connected with Bloomsbury, and faded distinctly by the time she crossed the main road; then a belated organ-grinder in Holborn set her thoughts dancing incongruously; […]”

“Those who cannot play any instrument wheel a gramophone through the streets on a barrow, but the largest number of these street musicians are organ grinders.”

“I want to speak to the organ grinder, not the monkey.”

CEFR level