bell

noun bells

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. HEAR the sledges with the bells — Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

   Similar: campane

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. Referee Steve Smoger was an almost invisible presence in the ring as both men went at it, although he did have a word with Froch when he landed with a shot after the bell at the end of the eighth.
4. UK, informal A telephone call. I’ll give you a bell later.
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.

   Similar: alert, beep, mul:\a

10. Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower. In a cowslip's bell I lie.
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.
13. Scotland, archaic A bubble. He swam to the place where Mary disappeared but there was neither boil nor gurgle on the water, nor even a bell of departing breath, to mark the place where his beloved had sunk.
14. UK, abbreviation, clipping, slang, vulgar Clipping of bell-end (“stupid or contemptible person”).

Similar: tintinnabule

verb bells · belling · belled

1. transitive To attach a bell to. Who will bell the cat?
2. transitive To shape so that it flares out like a bell. to bell a tube
3. slang, transitive To telephone. "Vinny, you tosser, it's Keith. I thought you were back today. I'm in town. Bell us on the mobile.
4. intransitive To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom. Hops bell.
5. To ring a bell. So that the Euston signalman may be advised of approaching trains as soon as possible, the Camden signalman sets up and transmits the description of each train immediately after it is belled to him.

verb bells · belling · belled

1. intransitive To bellow or roar. This animal is said to harbour in the place where he resides. When he cries, he is said to bell; the print of his hoof is called the slot; his tail is called the single; his excrement the fumet; his horns are called his head […].
2. transitive To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth. Their leaders bell their bleating tunes In doleful sound.

noun bells

1. The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.

proper noun Bells

1. countable, uncountable A surname of Scottish and northern English origin for a bell ringer, bellmaker, or from someone who lived "at the Bell (inn)." “As far as I’m concerned, wives come and go, but Weezers are forever. And if Rivers [Cuomo] doesn’t realize that, then maybe he just doesn’t understand what being a Weezer is all about.” At press time, an increasingly frustrated Bell had reportedly announced plans to split off from the group and pur
2. countable, uncountable The Bell telephone company (after Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.)
3. countable, uncountable A male given name transferred from the surname, of occasional usage.
4. countable, uncountable A female given name, variant of Belle; mostly used as a middle name in the 19th century. Here, Isabel, here is the good gentleman’s handkerchief; keep it for him now, till he comes to see little Bell again.
5. countable, uncountable A city in Los Angeles County, California.
6. countable, uncountable A town in Gilchrist County, Florida.
7. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Logan County, Illinois.
8. countable, uncountable A census-designated place in Adair County, Oklahoma.
9. countable, uncountable A town in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.
10. countable, uncountable Three townships in Pennsylvania.
11. countable, uncountable A village in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
12. countable, uncountable A village in the City of Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia.
13. countable, uncountable A rural town in Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia.
14. countable, uncountable A municipality of Mayen-Koblenz district, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
15. countable, uncountable A municipality of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis district, Rhineland-Palatinate.

noun Bells

1. Canada, US a telephone utility; a Baby Bell.