bell
pronunciation
How to pronounce bell in British English:
UK [bel]
How to pronounce bell in American English:
US [bel]
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- Noun:
- a hollow device made of metal that makes a ringing sound when struck
- a push button at an outer door that gives a ringing or buzzing signal when pushed
- the sound of a bell being struck
- (nautical) each of the eight half-hour units of nautical time signaled by strokes of a ship's bell; eight bells signals 4:00, 8:00, or 12:00 o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
- the shape of a bell
- a percussion instrument consisting of vertical metal tubes of different lengths that are struck with a hammer
- the flared opening of a tubular device
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- Verb:
- attach a bell to
Word Origin
- bell
- bell: [OE] The Old English word was belle. Apart from Dutch bel it has no relatives in the other main European languages (many of them use words related to English clock for ‘bell’: French cloche, for instance, and German glocke). It has been speculated that it may be connected with the verb bell, used of the baying call made by a hound or stag, which itself is perhaps related to bellow, a descendant of a hypothetical Old English *belgan. The ultimate source may possibly be the same as for bellows.=> bellow
- bell (n.)
- Old English belle, common North Sea Germanic (cognates: Middle Dutch belle, Middle Low German belle) but not found elsewhere in Germanic (except as a borrowing), from PIE root *bhel- (4) "to sound, roar." Statistical bell curve was coined 1870s in French. Of glasses in the shape of a bell from 1640s. Bell pepper is from 1707, so called for its shape. Bell, book, and candle is a reference to a form of excommunication. To ring a bell "awaken a memory" (1934) is perhaps a reference to Pavlovian experiments.
- bell (v.)
- "attach a bell to," late 14c., from bell (n.). Related: Belled; belling. Allusions to the story of the mice that bell the cat (so they can hear him coming) date to 1520s.
Example
- 1. Let 's return to bell in his boston laboratory .
- 2. You don 't know what time taco bell closes anymore .
- 3. Why did the recess bell ring 20 minutes early ?
- 4. I came at the usual time and rang the bell .
- 5. Every time marconi hit the key , a bell rang .