street piano

plural street pianos

1. A piano placed in a public area to encourage passers-by to stop and play.
2. historicalA mechanical piano used by street entertainers, operated with a crank that turned a wooden cylinder from which leather hammers were thrown against the strings.

   But hist! the [marionette show] is going to begin. A lad is grinding a broken street-piano under the stage.

   1921, D. H. Lawrence, chapter 8, in Sea and Sardinia, New York: Thomas Seltzer, page 349

   2 more examples

   Who that has lived thirty years in the world has not discovered that Pleasure is coy; and must not be too directly pursued, but must be caught unawares? An air from a street-piano, heard while at work, will often gratify more than the choicest music played at a concert by the most accomplished musicians.

   1854, Herbert Spencer, “Manners and Fashion”, in Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, published 1858, page 148

   I keep my countenance, / I remain self-possessed / Except when a street piano, mechanical and tired / Reiterates some worn-out common song […]

   1916, T. S. Eliot, “Portrait of a Lady”, in Alfred Kreymborg, editor, Others: An Anthology of the New Verse, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 36

   Synonyms: barrel piano