I. ˈbel noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English belle, from Old English;akin to Middle Low German belle bell, Old Norse bjalla bell, Old English bellan to roar — more at bellow
1.
a. : a cup-shaped, saucer-shaped, or hollow spherical metallic device that vibrates and gives forth a ringing sound when struck by a clapper or hammer or by a loose ball inside — see chime , gong , sleigh bell
b. : doorbell
the bell began to chime more frequently — A.R.Foff
2. : the ringing or sound of a bell as a signal
school bell
or summons
dinner bell
or warning
fire bell
3.
a. : a bell (as of a clock) rung to tell the hour
b. : the stroke of such a bell especially on shipboard — often used in plural
c. : the time so indicated
d. nautical : a half hour — compare watch (see column 3)
e. : a signal to a ship's engine room given originally by striking a bell
f. : the gong sounded at the beginning and end of a round in boxing
4. : a mark of superiority or merit : award , prize — used in such phrases as to bear the bell, to carry away the bell
5. : something having the form of a bell: as
a. : the cup or corolla of a flower
in a cowslip's bell I lie — Shakespeare
b. : a hollow inverted vessel (as a diving bell or bell jar)
c. : a bell-shaped organ or part (as the umbrella of a jellyfish or the nectocalyx of a siphonophore)
d. : a small pouch of hairy skin that hangs from the neck of a deer
e. : the part of the capital of a column between the abacus and neck molding ; especially : the nearly bell-shaped naked core assumed to exist within the leafage of a Corinthian capital
f. : a flaring mouth (as of a trumpet or other musical wind instrument or of an old firearm)
g. : a bell-shaped cover of metal or glass placed over food in cooking or serving — called also cloche
h. : the cone-shaped part in a bell and hopper
i. : the enlarged end of a section of pipe that receives the spigot end of the adjoining section
j. : the cup-shaped endpiece of a stethoscope that is placed against a body area (as the chest)
6.
a. : a musical percussion instrument consisting of a number of metal bars or tubes of various graded lengths that when struck with a hammer give out tones resembling those of different-sized bells — usually used in plural; called also chimes
b. : glockenspiel
7. bells plural : heel clicks performed in the air in tap dancing
•
- with bells on
[s]/bell.jpg[/s]
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to put a bell upon : provide with a bell
camels had got away from them in the dark and … were not belled — Myrtle R. White
2.
a. : to ring a bell for
bell the man to come up
b. : to cause to ring
the ground, so hard it hurt our brittle feet, belled the iron rakes — Whitney Balliett
3. : to make bell-mouthed
bell out the end of a tube
4. : to cover by a bell or bell jar
artificial fruit … the stuff your grandmother belled under glass — Walter de la Mare
intransitive verb
1. : to ring a bell or bells
trams bell against motors and drays — William Sansom
2. : to make a sound suggestive of a bell
a great belling chorus of thrushes — H.E.Bates
: ring
his head belling with interrupted sleep — D.C.Peattie
3.
a. : to take the form of a bell : swell up or puff out into the shape of a bell
belling sleeves
belled flowers
skirts inclined to bell at the hemline — Women's Wear Daily
b. : to develop bells or corollas : blossom
hops belling at the end of August
•
- bell the cat
III. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English bellen, from Old English bellan — more at bellow
: to make a resonant bellowing or baying sound
the bobcat … was ahead of the belling hounds — William Faulkner
: bellow , roar
the distant belling of the herds of deer — Sacheverell Sitwell
IV. noun
( -s )
: the noise of one that bells : bellow , roar
the bell of a stag