I. ˈbe(ˌ)lōz, -_ləz, formerly often & still sometimes especially in S -_ləs noun plural but singular or plural in construction
Etymology: Middle English bely, below belly, bellows — more at belly
1. : an instrument or machine that by alternate expansion and contraction or by rise and fall of the top draws in air through a valve or orifice and expels it more or less forcibly through a tube ; also : any of various forms of rotary and other blowers — compare blower 5
2. : lungs
the yell from the deep bellows of the man — Barnaby Conrad
3. : the pleated expansible part of leather, cloth, or similar material in a camera making a light-tight passage between the lens and the light-sensitive material at the back of the camera — see camera illustration
4. : any of various enclosures of variable volume with walls like those of an accordion (as in sealed expansion joints and thermostats)
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
obsolete : to blow with or as if with bellows