Definitions and meaning of bell
bell
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: bĕl, IPA(key): /bɛl/
-
- Rhymes: -ɛl
- Homophone: belle
Etymology 1
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.
Noun
bell (plural bells)
- (music) 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.
- An instrument that emits a ringing sound, situated on a bicycle's handlebar and used by the cyclist to warn of their presence.
- The sounding of a bell as a signal.
- (chiefly British, informal) A telephone call.
- A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
- (music) The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
- (nautical) 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.
- (computing) The bell character.
- Synonyms: alert, beep, \a
- Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
- (architecture) 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.
- (Scotland, archaic) A bubble.
- (British, vulgar, slang) Clipping of bell-end (“stupid or contemptible person”).
Synonyms
- (in heraldry): campane
- (rare): tintinnabule
Hyponyms
Meronyms
- (internally suspended tool for striking): clapper, tongue
- (flaring open end): mouth
Holonyms
- (structure housing bells): bell tower, campanile
- (sets of bells): carillon, peal
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Fiji Hindi: belo
- → Japanese: ベル (beru)
- → Korean: 벨 (bel)
Translations
See also
- (study of bells): campanology
- (expert in bells): campanist, campanologist
- (player of bells): bell-ringer, carilloner, carilloneur, carillonist, ringer, tintinnabulary, tintinnabulist
- (playing of bells): bell-ringing, tintinnabulation, tintinnabulism, tintinnation
- (bell-related): campanistic, campanologic, campanarian, tintinnabular, tintinnabular, tintinnabulary, tintinnabulatory, tintinnabulous
- (related to a peal of bells or bell tower): campanilian
- (bell-shaped): bell-shaped, campanal, campaniform, campaniliform, campanular, campanulate, campanulated, campanulous, tintinnabulate
- (containing bells): campaned
- (sounding like a small bell): jingling, tinkling, tintinnabulant, tintinnabulating, tintinnating
Verb
bell (third-person singular simple present bells, present participle belling, simple past and past participle belled)
- (transitive) To attach a bell to.
- (transitive) To shape so that it flares out like a bell.
- to bell a tube
- (slang, transitive) To telephone.
- (intransitive) To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.
- To ring a bell.
Translations
See also
Etymology 2
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 ring”), German Low German bellen (“to ring”), German bellen (“to bark”), Swedish böla (“to low; bellow; roar”).
Verb
bell (third-person singular simple present bells, present participle belling, simple past and past participle belled)
- (intransitive) To bellow or roar.
- (transitive) To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth.
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
bell (plural bells)
- The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.
Translations
Catalan
Etymology
Inherited from Latin bellus. Compare Occitan bèll, bèu, French beau, Spanish bello.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈbeʎ]
-
- Rhymes: -eʎ
- Homophone: vell
Adjective
bell (feminine bella, masculine plural bells, feminine plural belles)
- (literary or dialectal) beautiful
- Synonyms: ben plantat, bonic, bufó, formós, maco, preciós
Usage notes
- Disused in most dialects because of its homophony with vell (“old”), but still frequently found in literary texts.
Derived terms
- bellament
- bellesa
- belles arts
- embellir
Further reading
- “bell”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
- “bell”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
- “bell” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “bell” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Chinese
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
Verb
bell
- (Cantonese) to nudge; to shove
-
我要我嘅肚仔 每日變fit啲 bell右又bell左 腸道健康啲 [Cantonese, trad.]
我要我嘅肚仔 每日变fit啲 bell右又bell左 肠道健康啲 [Cantonese, simp.]- ngo5 jiu3 ngo5 ge3 tou5 zai2, mui5 jat6 bin3 fit1 di1, beu6 jau6 jau6 beu6 zo2, coeng4-2 dou6 gin6 hong1 di1 [Jyutping]
- (please add an English translation of this usage example)
Derived terms
References
- Bolton, Kingsley, Hutton, Christopher (2005) A Dictionary of Cantonese Slang: The Language of Hong Kong Movies, Street Gangs and City Life, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 19
German
Pronunciation
Verb
bell
- singular imperative of bellen
- (colloquial) first-person singular present of bellen
Maltese
Etymology
From Arabic بَلَّ (balla).
Pronunciation
Verb
bell (imperfect jbell, past participle miblul)
- to dip (immerse something shortly or partly into a liquid)
Conjugation
Old English
Noun
bell f
- alternative form of belle
Welsh
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bɛɬ/
- (South Wales, also) IPA(key): /beːɬ/
Adjective
bell
- soft mutation of pell
Mutation
Source: wiktionary.org