bell

noun15

1. •
   a metal object, wide and open at the bottom, that rings when something hits it

   • HEAR the sledges with the bells — Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! — 1848
2. •
   An instrument that emits a ringing sound, situated on a bicycle's handlebar and used by the cyclist to warn of their 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. — 2011
4. •
   A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
5. •
   Any of a series of strokes on a bell (or similar), struck every half hour to indicate the time (within a four hour watch)
6. •
   The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
7. •
   The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
8. •
   Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.

   • In a cowslip's bell I lie. — 1610
9. •
   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.
10. •
    The rounded upper part of a jellyfish.
11. •
    (UK, informal) A telephone call.

    • I’ll give you a bell later.
12. •
    The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.
13. •
    The bell character.
14. •
    (slang, vulgar) Clipping of bell-end (“stupid or contemptible person”).
15. •
    (Scotland, no longer used) 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

verb7

1. •
   (slang) To telephone.

   • "Vinny, you tosser, it's Keith. I thought you were back today. I'm in town. Bell us on the mobile. — 2006
2. •
   To attach a bell to.

   • Who will bell the cat?
3. •
   To ring a bell.

   • 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. — 1955
4. •
   To shape so that it flares out like a bell.
5. •
   To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.

   • Hops bell.
6. •
   To bellow or roar.

   • As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled / Once, twice and again! — 1894
7. •
   To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth.

   • Their leaders bell their bleating tunes In doleful sound. — 1591

noun1

1. •
   (US, Canada) a telephone utility; a Baby Bell.