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tickle the ivories
Idioms and Phrases
Play the piano, as in He went on tickling the ivories until three in the morning . This expression alludes to a piano's keys, traditionally made of ivory. [ Colloquial ; first half of 1900s]Example Sentences
“Sing for Hope Pianos” The public is invited to tickle the ivories — no lessons required — with this initiative co-sponsored by the city of Beverly Hills and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
While he mainly played bass for the group, he'd also tickle the ivories and even sing lead on some tracks.
"You didn’t know I could tickle the ivories did you..."
A downtown street piano for the past several summers has allowed impromptu public performances by anyone who cares to tickle the ivories.
The 65-year-old retired engineer, who endured surgery, went through extensive hand rehabilitation, and was fitted with prosthetic fingers so he could once again tickle the ivories, is doing it for two reasons, he said.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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