A kind of gramophone used particularly in the 1920s and 1930s.
‘He brings with him two things that will change the lives of everyone in town forever: a Victrola with recordings of the German opera Der Korb, and a basketball.’
‘The TVs are black and white with a circular picture tube; the record players have big horns like ancient Victrolas.’
‘Next to that was a beeswax casting of a phonograph horn from an old Victrola.’
‘They gathered around the horns of their Victrolas, leaning with their ears cocked like Victor's spokesdog, Nipper.’
‘Won't they vanish just like the vile, lacquered smoke from a burning pile of junked Victrolas?’
‘The medium can be anything: your own voice, an old Victrola, a radio, a CD player, or an up-to-the-moment MP3 player.’
‘As Laura crouches near the Victrola, not looking at her mother, Amanda calls Tom into the living room to congratulate him on his joke.’
‘Any excuse, dear reader, to stay home and crank up the Victrola.’
‘But even they can't save a body of work that looks as antiquated today as a wind-up Victrola.’
‘Soon I was hunting for the Holy Grail: a genuine spring-wound Victrola.’
Origen
Early 20th century from the name of the Victor Talking Machine Company + -ola (as in pianola).
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