bellows
pronunciation
How to pronounce bellows in British English:
UK [ˈbeləʊz]
How to pronounce bellows in American English:
US [ˈbeloʊz]
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- Noun:
- a mechanical device that blows air onto a fire to make it burn more fiercely
Word Origin
- bellows
- bellows: [OE] Bellows and belly were originally the same word, Old English belig, which meant ‘bag’. This was used in the compound blǣstbelig, literally ‘blowing bag’, a device for blowing a fire, which was replaced in the late Old English period by the plural form of the noun, belga or belgum, from which we get bellows. Meanwhile the meaning of belly developed from ‘bag’ to, in the 13th century, ‘body’ and, in the 14th century, ‘abdomen’.Ultimately the word goes back to Germanic *balgiz ‘bag’, from the base *balg- or *belg- (itself a descendant of Indo-European *bhel- ‘swell’), which also lies behind billow [16], bolster, and possibly bellow and bell.=> bell, bellow, belly, billow, bold, bolster
- bellows (n.)
- c. 1200, belwes, "a bellows," literally "bags," plural of belu, belw, northern form of beli, from late Old English belg "bag, purse, leathern bottle" (see belly (n.)). Reduced from blæstbælg, literally "blowing bag." Used exclusively in plural since 15c., probably due to the two handles or halves.
Example
- 1. In the last 25 years , however , the accordion bellows have expanded again .
- 2. Yawning helps keep the brain cool , and the sinuses play a role in that process by acting as bellows , a new report suggests .
- 3. During yawning , the walls of the maxillary sinuses ( located in the cheeks on each side of the nose ) flex like bellows and help with brain cooling , according to the researchers .
- 4. Now , hack and co-author andrew gallup , of princeton university , propose that yawning causes the walls of the maxillary sinus to expand and contract like a bellows , pumping air onto the brain , which lowers its temperature .
- 5. It opened into the house , where the females were already astir , zillah urging flakes of flame up the chimney with a colossal bellows ; and mrs heathcliff , kneeling on the hearth , reading a book by the aid of the blaze .