bell button

noun bell buttons

1. A small, round mechanical device which, when pressed, rings a bell to announce one's presence or call a servant, assistant, etc. She hated the row of key-and-mail boxes on the wall, with the bell buttons above each apartment number. She hated the jangling of the hall telephone, the scurrying to answer, the prodding of whichever bell button would summon the tenant asked for by the caller.

   Similar: buzzer, doorbell

2. A button in the form of a jingle bell, used as a fastener or decoration on a piece of clothing. 1775, James Adair, The History of the American Indians, London: Edward and Charles Dilly, Chapter , Argument 17, p. 171, […] the young warriors now frequently fasten bell-buttons, or pieces of tinkling brass to their maccaseenes, and to the outside of their boots, instead of the old turky-cock-spurs