bell Hear it!

bell¹ Definition

bell (bel)

noun

  1. a hollow object, usually cuplike, made of metal or other hard material which rings when struck, as by a clapper inside
  2. such an object rung to mark the hours or the beginning and end of a period of time
  3. the sound made by a bell
  4. anything shaped like a bell, as a flower, the flare of a horn, etc.
  5. a musical instrument made up of a series of tuned metal bars or hollow tubes that are sounded by striking; specif.,
    1. glockenspiel
    2. chimes
  6. Naut.
    1. a bell rung every half hour during each of the five four-hour watches and during the four-hour period comprising the two dog watches: the series of rings begins at one bell (12:30, 4:30, and 8:30 o'clock) and ends at eight bells (4:00, 8:00, and 12:00 o'clock)
    2. any of these half-hour periods

Etymology: ME & OE belle < IE base *bhel-, to sound, roar (orig. ? echoic) > bellow, ON belja, to roar

transitive verb

  1. to attach a bell or bells to
  2. to shape like a bell

intransitive verb

to flare out like a bell

bell² Definition

bell (bel)

noun

a bellow; roar

Etymology: ME bellen < OE bellan: see bell

intransitive verb

to utter long, deep sounds, as a hound in pursuit of game; bay; bellow

Bell Definition

Bell (bel)

  1. Bell, Alexander Graham 1847-1922; U.S. inventor of the telephone, born in Scotland

  2. pseudonym for the Brontë sisters

  3. Bell, Daniel 1919-; U.S. sociologist

bell Synonyms

bell

n.

  1. Device for signaling audibly

    chime(s), signal, gong, siren, carillon, angelus, tintinnabulum, buzzer, ding-dong*, ringer*; see also alarm 1.

  2. Sound made by a bell

    toll, carillon, gong, pealing, tocsin, buzz, chime, tintinnabulation, ringing, knell, tinkle, bong, ding-dong, ding; see also sound 2.

bell Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • chromium: It offers a filled up seat, a wheel of functional handling, a bell of chromium and an adjustable windshield.

Converse of object

  • ring: Outside gallery opening hours, please ring the bell marked ' Office ' at the front entrance of the House.
  • chime: The hum and the tierce in the chimed bell do not affect the initial sensation of pitch, despite the loudness of these partials.
  • recast: William Evans of Chepstow recast this bell, formerly in the north tower, to make the treble for a ring of ten.

Adjective modifier

  • tubular: Our percussion, including pedal timpani, tam-tam, tubular bells, xylophone, glockenspiel and vibraphone, are available for use.
  • true-harmonic: In a true-harmonic bell, with the main partials in octaves, the pitch is about an octave below the nominal.
  • dumb: I got an exercise bike, ankle weights, dumb bells - 5 kg & 10 kg.
  • old-style: Old-style bells often have more accentuated upper partials than true-harmonic bells, giving a very clear sensation of pitch from a distance.

Modifies a noun

  • ringing: CDs almost sold out The compact disk of Devon bell ringing has almost sold out.
  • ringer: Pascal was a keen bell ringer, having rung in most of the churches in Devon.
  • turret: A flint Norman church with a weather boarded bell turret.
  • recallsa: Member auto insurance it's hard to bell recallsa concentrated.
  • tower: Next to the church stands a tall bell tower in the Italian style.
  • pepper: A baby bell pepper producing miniature fruits that ripen green to red.

Noun used with modifier

  • alarm: All alarm bells should be ringing around the world!
  • sleigh: A Song For All Seasons opens with a flurry of sleigh bells, but before you can say " Is it Christmas again already?
  • tenor: The tenor bell was generously donated by Ron Dove himself.
  • sanctus: The crossing is very high, much higher than the nave, and outside on its gable sits a fine sanctus bell turret.
  • dick: Decade struggled in dick bell president new york state.
  • curfew: For ringing the curfew bell for one year 1 10 0 Price of Provisions, and Laborer's Wages.
bell Quotes

The bell-rope that gathers God at dawn Dispatches me as though I dropped down the knell Of a spent day.

—Crane, (Harold) Hart

When boats or ships came near him He tinkledy-binkledy-winkled a bell.

—Lear, Edward

Time that is moved by little fidget wheels Is not myTime, the flood that does not flow. Between the double and the single bell Of a ship's hour, between a round of bells From the dark warship riding there below, I have lived many lives, and this one life Of Joe, long dead, who lives between five bells.

—Skirving, Adam

   All winter long, I am one for whom the bell is tolling; I can arouse no interest in basketball, Indoor fly casting or bowling; The sports pages are strictly no soap! And until the cry Play Ball! I simply mope.

—Nash, (Frederic) Ogden

Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved inmankind; and thereforenever send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

—Donne,John

Rose of all Roses,Rose of all the World! The tall thought-woven sails, that flap unfurled Above the tide of hours, trouble the air, And God's bell buoyed to be the water's care.

—Yeats,W(illiam) B(utler)

What calls me is that lifted, rough-tongued bell (Art, if you like) whose individual sound Insists I too am an individual.

—Larkin, Philip Arthur

The worstthing thatcanhappento oldgoodmusic isthat it might become dated for a while, but watch out, in twenty years it will come drifting back like bell-bottoms and W.C. Fields movies.

—Hawes, Hampton

Through breaks of the cedar and sycamore bowers Struggles the light that is love to the flowers; And, softer than slumber and sweeter than singing, The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing. The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of daytime! They sing in September their songs of the May-time.

—Kendall, Henry Clarence

Through gilded trellises Of the heat, spangles Pelt down through the tangles Of bell-flowers.

—Sitwell, Dame Edith Louisa

Time and the bell have buried the day, The black cloud carries the sun away.

—Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)

The tolling bell Measures time not our time, rung by the unhurried Ground swell, a time Older than the time of chronometers.

—Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)

Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.

—Tennyson

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well As she is famed to do, deceiving elf.

—Keats,John