accordion
nounverbattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//əˈkɔː.diː.ən//
- United Kingdom/[əˈkɔː.dɪi̯.ən] ~ [əˈkɔː.dɪi̯.n̩]/
- United States//əˈkoɹ.di.ən//
- United States/[əˈkoɹ.dɪi̯.ən] ~ [əˈkoɹ.dɪi̯.n̩]/
- United States//əˈkɔɹ.di.ən//
A box-shaped musical instrument played by compressing or expanding its bellows while pressing its buttons or its keys, causing pallets to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel (reeds).
noun
- 1
A box-shaped musical instrument played by compressing or expanding its bellows while pressing its buttons or its keys, causing pallets to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel (reeds).
A disreputable accordion that had a leak somewhere and breathed louder than it squawked.
- 2
A vertical list of items that can be individually expanded and collapsed to reveal their contents.
- 3
figurativeSomething, or set of things (concepts, etc), which can be expanded (or extended) and collapsed, like the musical instrument's pleated, folding bellows.
See also: telescoping
"Accordion" skirts are named from the musical instrument of that title, because the peculiar plaiting draws out and falls together again, in the same kind of folds, and with the same effect.
During the 1980s, accordion skirts became a popular style. Near the end of one winter season, I found a suit with a blazer-style jacket and an accordion-pleated skirt on sale at one of Birmingham's better department stores and placed it on layaway[…]
[…] lugging their accordion cameras and bulky tripods from platform to hillock to ladder—even to the rooftop of a moving supply train—seeking to claim the most advantageous site for recording tomorrow's event.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Old Latin com Latin cum Proto-Indo-European *ḱerd- Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr ~ *ḱr̥dés Proto-Italic *kord Latin cor Latin concors Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin concordāreder. Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad-der. Vulgar Latin *accordāre Old French acorder Middle French accorder French accorderdeverb. French accordbor. German Akkord German -ion German Akkordeonbor. English accordion First attested in 1831. Borrowed from German Akkordeon, from Akkord (“harmony”), from French accord, from Old French acorder, based on Italian accordare (“to tune”). See also accord.
verb
- 1
To fold up, in the manner of an accordion
I slit the wrapping with my pocketknife and the clothesline accordioned out in stiff loops.
Still in reverse, she goosed the gas and accordioned the running board a fraction of an inch more.
It accordioned down and he tugged the shirt around it so that it came free[…].
Forms
- plural
- accordions
- past tense
- accordioned
- past participle
- accordioned
- present participle
- accordioning
- third person singular
- accordions
accordion · A box-shaped musical instrument played by compressing or expanding its bellows while pressing its buttons or its keys, causing pallets to open, which…
account · A registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed…accountable · Obliged, when called upon, to answer (for one’s deeds);…accountant · One who renders account; one accountable.