Wiktionary

bell

See also: Bell, bèll, and bell'

English

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A large bell
 
A bicycle bell
 
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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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

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bell (plural bells)

  2. (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.
    • 1848, Edgar Allan Poe, The Bells:
      HEAR the sledges with the bells —
      Silver bells!
      What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
    • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 269, about a school in Lower Peover:
      The bell which called the pupils to their lessons can still be seen on the roof.
  3. An instrument that emits a ringing sound, situated on a bicycle's handlebar and used by the cyclist to warn of their presence.
  4. The sounding of a bell as a signal.
    • 2011 December 18, Ben Dirs, “Carl Froch outclassed by dazzling Andre Ward”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      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.
  6. (chiefly British, informal) A telephone call.
    I’ll give you a bell later.
  7. A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
  8. (music) The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
  9. (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)
  10. The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
  11. (computing) The bell character.
    Synonyms: alert, beep, \a
  12. Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
  13. (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.
  14. (Scotland, archaic) A bubble.
    • 1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet:
      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.
  15. (British, vulgar, slang) Clipping of bell-end (“stupid or contemptible person”).
Synonyms
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Hyponyms
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Kinds of bell (noun)
Meronyms
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Holonyms
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Coordinate terms
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Terms coordinate with bell (noun)
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Fiji Hindi: belo
  • → Japanese: ベル (beru)
  • → Korean: 벨 (bel)
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
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Verb

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bell (third-person singular simple present bells, present participle belling, simple past and past participle 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.
    • 2006, Dominic Lavin, Last Seen in Bangkok:
      "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.
    • 1955 March, “Train Describers at Euston”, in Railway Magazine, page 169:
      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.
Translations
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See also
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Etymology 2

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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

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bell (third-person singular simple present bells, present participle belling, simple past and past participle belled)

  1. (intransitive) To bellow or roar.
    • 1774, Oliver Goldsmith, A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature:
      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 [...].
    • 1894 May, Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published June 1894, →OCLC:
      As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled / Once, twice and again!
    • 1872, Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair‎[2]:
      You acted part so well, went alɬ-fours upon earth / The live-long day, brayed, belled.
    • 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 128:
      Then, incredibly, a rutting stag belled by the trunks.
  2. (transitive) To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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bell (plural bells)

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

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin bellus. Compare Occitan bèll, bèu, French beau, Spanish bello.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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bell (feminine bella, masculine plural bells, feminine plural belles)

  1. (literary or dialectal) beautiful
    Synonyms: ben plantat, bonic, bufó, formós, maco, preciós

Usage notes

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  • Disused in most dialects because of its homophony with vell (“old”), but still frequently found in literary texts.

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Chinese

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Verb

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bell

  1. (Cantonese) to nudge; to shove

Derived terms

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References

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  • 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

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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bell

  1. singular imperative of bellen
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of bellen

Maltese

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Root
b-l-l
1 term

Etymology

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From Arabic بَلَّ (balla).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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bell (imperfect jbell, past participle miblul)

  1. to dip (immerse something shortly or partly into a liquid)

Conjugation

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Conjugation of bell
positive forms
singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
perfect m bellejt bellejt bell bellejna bellejtu bellew
f bellet
imperfect m nbell tbell jbell nbellu tbellu jbellu
f tbell
imperative bell bellu
negative forms
singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
perfect m bellejtx bellejtx bellx bellejniex bellejtux bellewx
f bellitx
imperfect m nbellx tbellx jbellx nbellux tbellux jbellux
f tbellx
imperative tbellx tbellux

Old English

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Noun

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bell f

  1. Alternative form of belle

Welsh

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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bell

  1. Soft mutation of pell.

Mutation

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Mutated forms of pell
radical soft nasal aspirate
pell bell mhell phell

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

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