bell

Etymology 1

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

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! 1848, Edgar Allan Poe, The Bells
2. An instrument that emits a ringing sound, situated on a bicycle's handlebar and used by the cyclist to warn of his or her 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. December 18, 2011, Ben Dirs, “Carl Froch outclassed by dazzling Andre Ward”, in BBC Sport
4. (chiefly Britain, 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. (music) The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
7. (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)
8. The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
9. (computing) The bell character.
10. Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
11. (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.
12. (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. 1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet

verb

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. 2006, Dominic Lavin, Last Seen in Bangkok
4. (intransitive) To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.
   Hops bell.

Etymology 2

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 bark”), German Low German bellen (“to ring”), German bellen (“to bark”), Swedish böla (“to low; bellow; roar”).

verb

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 …. 1774, Oliver Goldsmith, A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature
   You acted part so well, went alɬ-fours upon earth / The live-long day, brayed, belled. 1872, Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair
   Then, incredibly, a rutting stag belled by the trunks. 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 128
2. (transitive) To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth.
   Their leaders bell their bleating tunes In doleful sound. 1591, Edmund Spenser, Astrophel

noun

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