concertina
/ˌkɒnsəˈtiːnə
/noun
1A small musical instrument played by stretching and squeezing a central bellows between the hands to blow air over reeds, each note being sounded by a button. Compare with accordion.All varieties of accordion (including the concertina and the bandoneon) have been made in both double and single-action models....
- Music workshops will be held in flute, fiddle, bodhrán, concertina and button accordion with highly talented musicians as tutors.
- The instruments available are fiddles, flutes, banjos, concertinas, accordions, a melodeon and a practice set of uillean pipes.
1.1 [as modifier] Opening or closing in multiple folds: concertina doors...
- The boot, with a 500-litre capacity, is a double-decker with a false floor, which can be folded, concertina style, to reveal a handy hideaway for valuable bits and pieces.
- On a number of wards bathrooms were separated only by a small curtain or concertina door from the main ward.
- Because we were in the open without any facilities around, the detainees were temporarily being held on a patch of desert closed off by concertina wire.
verb (concertinas, concertinaing /ˌkɒnsəˈtiːnə(r)ɪŋ/, concertinaed /ˌkɒnsəˈtiːnəd/ or concertina'd) [with object]
Extend, compress, or collapse in folds like those of a concertina: the car had concertinaed against the rear of the truck...
- My car was pushed from both ends - it has been concertinaed.
- My car was concertinaed and the doors wouldn't open, so I wound the window down and jumped out while there were still cars skidding and coming to a standstill.
- It has concertinaed the world without engendering the necessary respect, recognition and tolerance that must accompany it.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from concert + -ina.