orfgild 
Orfglldt, " [AH. '<>rf,/iltt, < <>rf. call I.., + i/il,l. 
;i payment.) In /.!" in a-, a restitution made by 
the comity or hundred for any wrong that was 
done by ono that was in plcgio, or bound liy the 
eiitfiitfe'ineiit '' llllMl frank-pledge; spccilically, a 
paym 
orfraist, orfrayst, [Alo "<;/<''/-.-, ami in la- 
ter form as sing. (from nrj'rinjn regarded as a 
,,lnn,l) ii,-!'nii/, II/VI/IM//, ">'f>'<!/, ">'froi, etc. ; < 
.\IK. nrfrtii/i-x, /;/;,,<,< ()!'. iirfruix. nrfrni-, or- 
firix, iii-J'i'iiin. F. orj'roi = I'r. tiurfri-x = < >Sp. 
'orofri'x, < ML. "iiiiri/il/i-i/i/in, iiiiiifrii/ni, (iiirifri/- 
iiniiii, also, after OP., aurifrisia, aHi-ij'ruxtiix. 
etc., also iniriiiliriigidliin: see miri/i/tri/i/iii, niiri- 
1. Kmbroidored work. 
Of orfram fresh was hlr gerlond. 
/.'. /(A 7fcwe, 1. 869. 
Hlr cnipourc was of or/art ; 
And uls clere golde hlr liryillll it scheme; 
lino nythir sydc hange hellys three. 
Thomas of Krsseldoune (Child's Ballads, I. 99). 
2. Same as orplirey, 2. 
And the Orfrayes sett fulle of grct Perl and precious 
Stones, fullc ni)bely wroughte. Mandeville, Travels, p. 233. 
orfrayt, [< OF. orfrayc, a corrupt form of 
offraye, ophraye, for '"onfraye, an osprey,^< L. 
-s, osprey: see osprey, ossifrage.] Sa me 
4140 
8. In plircn., any part of the brain supposed to 
have a particular office or function in determin- 
ing the character of the individual, and to lie 
indicated by one of the areas of cerebral surface 
re.-o^ni/.ed by phrenologists: as, the organ of 
acquisitiveness, of alimentiveness, of inhabi- 
t i\ CIIOHB, etc. 6. The largest, the most compli- 
cated, and the noblest of musical instruments, 
consisting of one or many sets of pipes sounded 
by means of compressed air, the whole instru- 
ment being under the control of a single player ; 
a pipe-organ, as distinguished from a reed-or- 
fia n . Historically, the principle of sounding a pipe pneu- 
matically hag been known from the earliest times. The 
combination of pipes or whistles into graduated series, so 
as to produce the tones of some sort of scale, appears in 
the primitive Pan's-plpe and In the Chinese cheng, both 
of which arc Mown by the breath, the latter being perhaps 
Moreouer, these orfraies, or ospreles (the Haliartos), are 
not thought to be a severall kind .if .rules l>y themselves. 
but to be mungrels, and engendred of divura sorts. And 
their yoiinir aspraies l>ee counted a kind of ossifragi. 
UiMand, tr. of Pliny, \. 3. 
orfrayst, orfreyst, . See orfrais. 
orgal (Or'gal), w. Same as argofl. 
orgamentt, orgamyt, [Corrupt forms of or- 
gittnj-, Oi-ti/intiim.] Same as origan. 
organ 1 (or'gan), . [< ME. organ, organ, < AS. 
organs, f., or 'organa, m., a musical instrument, 
<iri/(in, m., a song, canticle (e. g.,the paternos- 
ter) ; ME. also orgle = D. orj/eZ = MLG. on/an, 
orgen, orgel = OHG. organa, orgind, orgeld, or- 
qia, MHO. orgene, orgen, orgele, orgel, G. orgel = 
Icel. organ = Sw. Dan. orgel = OP. orgene, orgre, 
orgue, P. or</c = Pr. orgue = Sp. 6rga.no = Pg. 
ori/ao = It. organo, an organ (wind-instrument); 
= D. orgaan = G. Sw. Dan. organ = OF. organe, 
tirgiian, orgue, F. organe = Sp. organo = Pg. or- 
</<to = It. organo, an instrument or organ (as of 
speech, etc!), < L. organum, < Gr. opyaroc, an in- 
strument, implement, tool, also an organ of 
sense or apprehension, an organ of the body, 
also a musical instrument, an organ, < 'ip^eiv, 
work : see work.'] 1 . An instrument or means ; 
that which performs some office, duty, or func- 
tion ; that by which some action is performed 
or end accomplished. 
His be the praise that this atchiev'ment wrought, 
Who made my hand the organ of his might. 
Spenser, i'. O.., II. 1. 83. 
My lord, I will be ruled ; 
The rather, if you could devise it so 
That I might be the organ. 
Skat., Hamlet, iv. 7. 71. 
Fortune, as an organ of virtue and merit, deserveth the 
consideration. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, II. 324. 
2. A medium, instrument, or means of com- 
munication between one person or body of per- 
sons and another; a medium of conveying cer- 
tain opinions: as, a secretary of state is the or- 
i/tiii of communication between the government 
and a foreign power ; an official gazette is the or- 
ijn n of a government ; hence, specifically, a lie ws- 
paper which serves as the mouthpiece of a par- 
ticular party, faction, cause, denomination, or 
person : as, a Republican organ; a party organ. 
I wish to notice some objections . . . which have been 
lately urged . . . in the columns of the London " Leader," 
tile lihle organ of a very respectable and influential class 
in England. W. Phillips, Speeches, etc., p. 98. 
3. In biol., one of the parts or members of an 
organized body, as an animal or a plant, which 
has some specific function, by means of which 
some vital activity is manifested or some vital 
process is carried on: as, the organs of diges- 
tion, circulation, respiration, reproduction, lo- 
comotion; the organ of vision or of hearing; 
the vocal organs. 
It is just so high as it is, and moves with its own argam. 
Ska*., A. and C., ii. 7. 49. 
What is agreeable to some is not toothers ; what touches 
smoothly my organ may grate upon yours. 
Gentleman Instructed, p. 367. (Davies.) 
4. The vocal organs collectively; the voice: 
now rare except in a somewhat technical or 
cant application with reference to the musical 
use of the voice. 
Thy small pipe 
Is aa the maiden's organ, shrill and sound. 
Shale., T. N., i. 4. 33. 
261 
Section of a Two-manual Organ. 
a, reservoir-bellows ; a 1 , feeders; 6, wind-trunks ; c, wind-boxes 
(t, wind-chests or sound-boards ; e, pallet-box, containing key-valves 
/", upper boards, forming top of wind-chest ;/" ', rack -boards, whicl 
support pipes ; f, wood pipes; f 1 , metal flue-pipes; ^.reed-pipes 
j." -. front pipes, ornamental ; ft, swell-box, broken out to show interior 
A i, swell-shade or -shutter, which opens or closes front of swell-box ; 
case; t, front-pipe groove-board; /. bench; m, pedal-keys: '"' 
pedal coupler-mechanism ; n, manual keys and coupler-mechanism 
o, stickers, wooden rods which transmit motion from keys by thrust 
/, squares, which transmit motion after manner of a bell-crank to pass 
corners ; q, trackers, which transmit motion by tension ; r, roller-boards 
which support rollers; n, rollers, which are equivalents of rock-shaft 
s, key-pallets, which control supply of wind to pipes ; /, draw-stop 
valves and mechanism ; u t swell-pedal, which controls swell-shades ', 
f, combination-pedals, which move a group of stops by a single int 
pulse of the foot ; -i\ tremulant. 
the actual prototype of the modem organ. Instruments 
of this general class seem to have been used In Europe from 
the first Christian centuries, having some apparatus for fur- 
nishing compressed air and a set of pipes the sounding of 
which was variously controlled. Soon after the tenth cen- 
tury great improvements were made, affecting every part 
of the mechanism. The process of mechanical develop- 
ment has been continuous ever since, and Is still going on. 
The original impetus to this steady progress is due to the 
fact that the pipe-organ has been recognized ever since the 
fourth or fifth century as preeminently the church musical 
instrument. I Tit il the sixteenth century no other instru- 
ment commanded the careful study of educated musicians. 
Its application to purely concert uses is comparatively re- 
cent. The modern pipe-organ consists essentially of three 
mechanical systems : the wind-supply, the compressed air 
used being technically called wind ; the pipework, includ- 
ing the entire sound-producing apparatus; and the action, 
the mechanism by which the ptnyer controls the whole. 
The wind-supply includes two or more/eder, oblique bel- 
lows which are operated either by hand or by a water, gas, 
steam, or electric motor or engine ; a storage-bellmrs, hori- 
zontal bellows into which the feeders open, and in which 
the air is kept at a uniform pressure by means of weights ; 
mnd-tntnla, distributing the compressed air to the sev- 
eral parts of the instrument ; and wind-cherts, boxes di- 
rectly under the pipes, in which are the valves for admit- 
ting the air to particular pipes or sets of pipes. Occasion- 
ally certain solo pipes are supplied with air from a special 
storage-bellows in which the tension Is made greater by 
extra weights ; such pipes are said to be on extra or heavy 
wind. The pipework includes a great variety of different 
kinds of pipes, made either of metal or of wood, arranged 
in sets called stops or registers, at least one pipe being usu- 
ally provided in each set for each digital of the keyboard. 
In general, all pipes are either Jive-pipes, which are either 
open at the upper end or plugged, or reed-pipes, the former 
producing tones through the impact of a stream of air upon 
the sharp edge or lip of a mouth in the side of the pipe, 
and the latter producing tones by the vibration of a tongue 
or reed placed over or in an orifice through which the air 
passes. (See pipe,) The pipes in a given set or stop are 
alike, except in size and pitch. The four principal quali- 
ties of tone produced are the true organ-tone, given by open 
metal flue-pipes of broad scale ; the flute-tone, given by 
stopped wooilen flue-pipes; the string-tone, given by open 
metal flue-pipes of narrow scale ; and the reed-tone, given 
by reed-pipes of various shape and material. A stop 
organ 
whose tones correspond exactly with tin- normal pitch of 
tin- digitals with which the several pipes are connected Is 
called an eight-feet stop; one whose tones are uniformly an 
octave lower Is called a sixteen-feetstop; while those whose 
tones are uniformly one or two octaves higher are called 
fmir-feet and two-feet stops respectively. Stops whose tones 
are dlfferi-nt from the normal pitch of the digitals used, or 
nom tliHrnppei or loweroctaves, are called mtrtn<vrm-<p, 
In distinction from the nl>ove/iin*l<in-<fop. Stops that 
have more t hun one pipe to the digital are called mixture 
stops or mixtures. It in customary to group together sev- 
eral stopsof different construction, tone-quality, and pitch 
upon a single wind-chest, and such a group of stops con- 
stitutes a partial organ. I'snally from two to five such 
groups of stops or partial organs are Introduced, such as 
the great organ, the chief and most sonorous of all ; the 
swell-organ, so called because shut up in a tight box one 
side of which consists of shutters which may be opened or 
shut so as to let out or muffle the sound ; the chair-organ, 
specially Intended for accompanying either voices or other 
stopsof the organ itself; the solo-ornan, providing stopsof 
very conspicuous power and Individuality; and tha pedal 
organ, Including deep-toned stops played from a keyboard 
for the feet, and supplying the fundamental tones of the 
harmony. Thr nunilM-r, OI.I.T, jiower. :m<t quality of the 
stops placed In these several partial organs vary widely. 
Each is complete In Itself, having Its own wind-chest and 
keylioard, so that It can be used independently of the oth- 
ers ; but by means of couplers any pair may be played con- 
Jointly from a single kcylioard. (Sec coupler. ) The action 
Includes one keyboard for each partial organ, a stop-knob 
for each stop, a knob or piston for each coupler, a swell- 
pedal, combination pedals, etc. Keyboards for the hands 
are called manuals, and those for the (eet pedals, each being 
made up of the usual white and black digitals or keys. 
The manuals usually have a compass of nearly or about five 
octaves, beginning on the second C below middle C, while 
the pedals have aliout half this compass, beginning an oc- 
tave lower. The manuals are placed above each other in 
a desk-like case ; when there are two, the lower belongs to 
the great organ, and the upper to the swell-organ ; when 
there are three, the lowest belongs to the choir-organ. The 
stop-knobs, bearing the names of the stops, arc placed on 
both sides of the manuals, and are grouped according to 
the partial organs to which they belong. When a stop is 
to be used, Its knob Is pulled forward, or "drawn." Fre- 
quently combination pedals or pistons are provided, by 
which several knobs may be drawn or retired at once. 
Sometimes, also, a crescendo pedal Is Introduced, by which 
the entire resources of the Instrument may be gradually 
called into action. The keyboards may be combined In 
various ways by means of couplers. The digitals of the 
keyboards are connected with the valves In the wind-chests 
by a complicated series of stickers, squares, rollers, track- 
ers, etc., which are almost entirely madeof wood. In large 
organs the friction of the key-action la so great that a 
pneumatic or electric action is employed, In which the di- 
gitals merely make connections so that compressed air or 
electricity may do the work. The stop-knobs are connected 
with the wind-chests by similar systems of levers, rods, 
squares, etc., which are also often pneumatically or electri- 
cally manipulated. Whenadlgital on one of the keyboards 
is depressed, a valve is opened from the wind-chest belong- 
ing to that keyboard, admitting the compressed air to a 
groove or channel over which stand all the pipes belong- 
ing to the digital : only those pipes, however, are sounded 
that belong to the stops whose stop-knobs happen to be 
drawn. The opening and closing of the shutters of the 
swell-box Is manipulated through a special swell-pedal. Va- 
rious other mechanical accessories are often added, such 
as the tremulant, a device by which an oscillating tension 
Is given to the air in one of the wind-trunks, the pedal- 
check, the bellows-signal, etc. The history of organ music 
until the sixteenth century was coincident with that of vo- 
cal music, for which It merely afforded a basis ; but since 
.that time it has had a remarkable independent develop- 
ment, particularly In the works of J. s. Bach. The organ 
has been much used In conjunction with choral music 
to enhance broad harmonic effects ; and lately it has been 
also applied to the elaborate imitation of orchestral mu- 
sic. It remains the distinctively church Instrument, al- 
though it Is often found In concert-halls and in opera- 
houses. Formerly the instrument was often spoken of as 
a pair of organs, or simply organs. 
His vois was merier than the merye organ 
On masse days that in the chirche goon. 
Chaucer, Nan's Priest's Tale, L 82. 
The chclfe Church of this citty is curiously carved with- 
in and without, furnished with a pain of organs, and a 
most magnificent font all of copper. 
Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 17, 1641. 
In 1501 the complete expression is met with, "one peyre 
of orgynys " ; and it continued in use up to the time of 
Pepys, who wrote his "Diary" In the second half of the 
17th century. Grow, Diet. Mnsic, II. 587. 
7. One of the independent groups of stops of 
which a pipe-organ w made up ; a partial organ, 
such as the great organ, the swell-organ, etc., 
described above. 8. A harmonium or reed- 
organ. 9f. Some other musical instrument, as 
a pipe or harp. 
There Is much music, excellent voice, in this little or- 
gan [a recorder!, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood ! 
do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe ? 
Shak., Hamlet, ill 2. 385. 
Accessory genital organs. See genital. American 
organ. See reed-organ. A pair of organs. See def . 6, 
and pairi , 5. Barrel organ. See barrel-organ. Cabinet 
organ. See cabinet. Chair organ. See choir-organ 
Choir organ. See choir-organ.- Cibarial, cup-shaped, 
Cuvlerian organs. Seetheadjectives. Cortian organ. 
See orya n of Corti. Echo-organ, one of the partial organs 
of a large pipe-organ : so called because it is placed at a 
diitance from the main part of the Instrument, and is used 
for echo-like . tu-rts. Its action is almost always electric. 
Electric organ, (a) The apparatus by means of which 
an electric fish (ray, eel, or catfish) gives a shock. (6) A 
