Meanings
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1
noun
a small free-reed musical instrument with bellows between two end boards, played by pressing buttons while expanding and compressing it
She played a lively dance tune on the concertina.
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2
noun
a portable barrier made from a coil of barbed or razor wire
The soldiers unrolled concertina across the road as a temporary barrier.
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3
verb
to collapse, compress, or fold in alternating sections like the bellows of a concertina
The front of the car concertinaed under the force of the collision.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Italian concertina, a feminine diminutive related to concerto ("concert"). The name was given to the compact bellows instrument developed in nineteenth-century Britain; its repeated folds later supplied the verb and the name concertina wire.