English Explanatory Dictionary

bell

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. 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.
  2. An instrument that emits a ringing sound, situated on a bicycle's handlebar and used by the cyclist to warn of their presence.
  3. The sounding of a bell as a signal.
  4. A telephone call.
  5. A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
  6. The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
  7. Any of a series of strokes on a bell (or similar), struck every half hour to indicate the time (within a four hour watch)
  8. The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
  9. The bell character.
  10. Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
  11. 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.
  12. The rounded upper part of a jellyfish.
verb
  1. To attach a bell to.
  2. To shape so that it flares out like a bell.
  3. To telephone.
  4. To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.
  5. To ring a bell.
verb
  1. To bellow or roar.
  2. To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth.
noun
  1. The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.
name
  1. A surname of Scottish and northern English origin for a bell ringer, bellmaker, or from someone who lived "at the Bell (inn)."
  2. The Bell telephone company (after Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.)
  3. A male given name transferred from the surname, of occasional usage.
  4. A female given name, variant of Belle; mostly used as a middle name in the 19th century.
  5. A number of places in the United States:
  6. A city in Los Angeles County, California.
  7. A town in Gilchrist County, Florida.
  8. An unincorporated community in Logan County, Illinois.
  9. A census-designated place in Adair County, Oklahoma.
  10. A town in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.
  11. Three townships in Pennsylvania.
  12. A village in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
noun
  1. a telephone utility; a Baby Bell.

Pronunciation

bĕl /bɛl/ en-us-bell.ogg

Word forms

bell bells belling belled

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Germanic *bellǭ Proto-West Germanic *bellā Old English belle Middle English belle English bell Inherited from Middle English belle, from Old English belle, from Proto-West Germanic *bellā, from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-. Cognate with West Frisian belle, bel (“bell”), Dutch bel (“bell”), Low German Belle, Bel (“bell”), Danish bjælde (“bell”), Faroese bjølla (“bell”), Icelandic bjalla (“bell”), Norwegian bjelle (“bell”), Swedish bjällra (“bell”).

Synonyms

tintinnabule campane alert beep mul:\a

Related words

study of bells bell-ringer carilloner carilloneur carillonist ringer tintinnabulary tintinnabulist bell-ringing tintinnabulation tintinnabulism tintinnation campaned jingling tinkling tintinnabulant tintinnabulating tintinnating campanist campanologist campanistic campanologic campanarian tintinnabular tintinnabulatory tintinnabulous campanilian bell-shaped campanal campaniform campaniliform campanular campanulate campanulated campanulous tintinnabulate bell out Bell Plain

Derived words

agogo bell alarm-bell alarm bell altar bell Angelus bell bear away the bell bear the bell bell animalcule bell apple bell arch Bell Bar bell-bearer bellbind bell-bind bellbird bell, book and candle bell-bottom bell-bottomed bell-bottomed trousers bell-bottoms bell bottoms bell-bottom trousers bellbox bellboy bell boy bell buoy bell button bell captain bell cart bellcast bell character bell chord bell-collar Bell Common bell cot bellcote bell cow bellcrank bell crank bell curve bell curve god bell deck belldom belled bell-end bell end bell-faced bellflower bell-founder bellfounder bell founder bellfounding bell frog bell-gable bell gable bellgirl bell glide Bell Green bell heather bellhop
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