"tickle the ivories" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tickles the ivories",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tickling the ivories",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tickled the ivories",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tickled the ivories",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "tickle the ivories (third-person singular simple present tickles the ivories, present participle tickling the ivories, simple past and past participle tickled the ivories)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Music",
          "orig": "en:Music",
          "parents": [
            "Art",
            "Sound",
            "Culture",
            "Energy",
            "Society",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1915, Willa Cather, Song of the Lark:",
          "text": "\"I don't think your musical friend is much on the grub-box. Has to keep her hands white to tickle the ivories.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984 June 9, Ben A. Franklin, “Mencken Monument Spurs ‘Frenzied Piffle’”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-11-14:",
          "text": "Mencken, more a music lover than a musician, sometimes tickled the ivories in a repertory of Beethoven, Bach, Strauss and W. C. Handy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To play the piano."
      ],
      "id": "en-tickle_the_ivories-en-verb-a7JgOxSI",
      "links": [
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "piano",
          "piano"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) To play the piano."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "tickle the ivory"
        },
        {
          "word": "tinkle the ivories"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tickle the ivories.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/52/En-au-tickle_the_ivories.ogg/En-au-tickle_the_ivories.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/En-au-tickle_the_ivories.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tickle the ivories"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tickles the ivories",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tickling the ivories",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tickled the ivories",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tickled the ivories",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "tickle the ivories (third-person singular simple present tickles the ivories, present participle tickling the ivories, simple past and past participle tickled the ivories)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English predicates",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Music"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1915, Willa Cather, Song of the Lark:",
          "text": "\"I don't think your musical friend is much on the grub-box. Has to keep her hands white to tickle the ivories.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984 June 9, Ben A. Franklin, “Mencken Monument Spurs ‘Frenzied Piffle’”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-11-14:",
          "text": "Mencken, more a music lover than a musician, sometimes tickled the ivories in a repertory of Beethoven, Bach, Strauss and W. C. Handy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To play the piano."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "piano",
          "piano"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) To play the piano."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-tickle the ivories.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/52/En-au-tickle_the_ivories.ogg/En-au-tickle_the_ivories.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/En-au-tickle_the_ivories.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "tickle the ivory"
    },
    {
      "word": "tinkle the ivories"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tickle the ivories"
}