Mus. [a. G. ventil, ad. med.L. ventile sluice, shutter, f. L. vent-us wind.]
1. One or other of the valves or shutters that control the wind-supply of the various groups of stops in an organ.
1876. Hiles, Catech. Organ, vii. (1878), 50. A Ventil, or Wind-trunk valve is a valve in the wind-trunk for … stopping the wind from certain stops in the manuals or pedals, and thus making them silent.
1884. Encycl. Brit., XVII. 835. Practical opinion appears decidedly to condemn the use of ventils.
attrib. 1876. Nature, XIV. 275/1. The French ventil system of shutting off or bringing on the wind to a complete … group of stops by the depression of a pedal.
2. (See quot.)
1876. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, 446/1. Ventil, a valve, by means of which brass tubes may be made to sound the semitones and tones between the natural open harmonics.
