concertina
concertina Lexical Profile
concertina Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A small portable free-reed musical instrument resembling an accordion, consisting of hexagonal or square endpieces with buttons on both ends joined by expandable bellows.
"The folk musician played a lively sea shanty on his antique wooden concertina."
An extensible barrier made of coils of barbed or razor wire that can be pulled out like the bellows of a concertina; concertina wire.
"The perimeter of the compound was secured with high chain-link fencing topped with a concertina of razor wire."
• verb
To collapse, fold, or compress into pleats or ridges like the bellows of a concertina.
"The front of the car concertinaed on impact with the concrete barrier."
• Rhymes for concertina
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the early 19th century by English physicist and inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone, who patented the instrument in 1829, combining English 'concert' with the Italian diminutive suffix '-ina'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.