bell

A large bell

Meanings

Noun

  • A percussive instrument made of metal or other hard material, typically but not always in the shape of an inverted cup with a flared rim, which resonates when struck.
  • The sounding of a bell as a signal.
  • A telephone call.
  • A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
  • The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
  • Any of a series of strokes on a bell (or similar), struck every half hour to indicate the time (within a four hour watch)
  • The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
  • The bell character.
  • Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
  • The part of the capital of a column included between the abacus and neck molding; also used for the naked core of nearly cylindrical shape, assumed to exist within the leafage of a capital.
  • An instrument situated on a bicycle's handlebar, used by the cyclist to warn of his or her presence.
  • A bubble.
  • The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.

Verb

  • To attach a bell to.
  • To shape so that it flares out like a bell.
  • To telephone.
  • To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.
  • To bellow or roar.
  • To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth.

Related

Similar words

Narrower meaning words

Origin

  • From Middle English belle, from Old English belle ("bell"), from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ. Cognate with West Frisian belle, bel, Dutch bel, Low German Belle, Bel, Danish bjelde, Swedish bjällra, Norwegian bjelle, Icelandic bjalla.
  • From Middle English bellen, from Old English bellan ("to bellow; make a hollow noise; roar; bark; grunt"), from Proto-Germanic *bellaną ("to sound; roar; bark"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ("to sound; roar; bark"). Cognate with Scots bell ("to shout; speak loudly"), Dutch bellen ("to bark"), German Low German bellen ("to ring"), German bellen ("to bark"), Swedish böla ("to low; bellow; roar").

Modern English dictionary

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