bell : Idioms & Phrases

Index


Alarm bell

  • noun the sound of an alarm (usually a bell)
    tocsin.
WordNet
  • a bell that gives notice on danger.
Webster 1913

alexander bell

  • noun United States inventor (born in Scotland) of the telephone (1847-1922)
    Alexander Bell; Bell.
WordNet

alexander graham bell

  • noun United States inventor (born in Scotland) of the telephone (1847-1922)
    Alexander Bell; Bell.
WordNet

alexander melville bell

  • noun a phonetician and father of Alexander Graham Bell (1819-1905)
    Alexander Melville Bell; Bell.
WordNet

angelus bell

  • noun the sound of a bell rung in Roman Catholic churches to announce the time when the Angelus should be recited
    angelus.
WordNet

bell animalcule

Bell" an`i*mal"cule
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) An infusorian of the family Vorticellidæ, common in fresh-water ponds.
Webster 1913

bell apple

  • noun the edible yellow fruit of the Jamaica honeysuckle
    sweet cup; water lemon; yellow granadilla.
WordNet

Bell arch

  • noun a round arch resting on corbels
WordNet
  • (Arch.), an arch of unusual form, following the curve of an ogee.
Webster 1913

bell bearer

Bell" bear`er
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) A Brazilian leaf hopper (Bocydium tintinnabuliferum), remarkable for the four bell-shaped appendages of its thorax.
Webster 1913

bell book

  • noun a logbook in which all orders concerning the main engines of a ship are recorded
WordNet

bell buoy

  • noun a buoy with a bell on it
    gong buoy.
WordNet

Bell cage, or Bell carriage

  • (Arch.), a timber frame constructed to carry one or more large bells.
Webster 1913

bell captain

  • noun the supervisor of bellboys in a hotel
WordNet

Bell cot

  • noun a small shelter for bells; has a gable or shed roof
    bell cot.
WordNet
  • (Arch.), a small or subsidiary construction, frequently corbeled out from the walls of a structure, and used to contain and support one or more bells.
Webster 1913

bell cote

  • noun a small shelter for bells; has a gable or shed roof
    bell cot.
WordNet

bell crank

Bell" crank`
Definitions
  1. A lever whose two arms form a right angle, or nearly a right angle, having its fulcrum at the apex of the angle. It is used in bell pulls and in changing the direction of bell wires at angles of rooms, etc., and also in machinery.
Webster 1913

Bell deck

  • noun a floor under the bells of an open belfry
WordNet
  • (Arch.), the floor of a belfry made to serve as a roof to the rooms below.
Webster 1913

Bell founder

  • noun a person who casts metal bells
WordNet
  • one whose occupation it is to found or cast bells.
Webster 1913

bell foundry

  • noun a foundry where bells are cast
WordNet

Bell foundry, or Bell foundery

  • a place where bells are founded or cast.
Webster 1913

Bell gable

  • noun an extension of a gable that serves as a bell cote
WordNet
  • (Arch.), a small gable-shaped construction, pierced with one or more openings, and used to contain bells.
Webster 1913

Bell glass

  • noun a bell-shaped glass cover used to protect and display delicate objects or to cover scientific apparatus or to contain gases
    bell glass.
WordNet
  • . See Bell jar.
Webster 1913

Bell hanger

  • a man who hangs or puts up bells.
Webster 1913

bell heather

  • noun dwarf European shrub with rose-colored flowers
    Erica tetralix; cross-leaved heath.
  • noun common low European shrub with purple-red flowers
    fine-leaved heath; bell heather; Erica cinerea.
WordNet

bell jar

  • noun a bell-shaped glass cover used to protect and display delicate objects or to cover scientific apparatus or to contain gases
    bell glass.
WordNet
Bell" jar`
Definitions
  1. (Phys.) A glass vessel, varying in size, open at the bottom and closed at the top like a bell, and having a knob or handle at the top for lifting it. It is used for a great variety of purposes; as, with the air pump, and for holding gases, also for keeping the dust from articles exposed to view.
Webster 1913

bell magpie

  • noun bluish black fruit-eating bird with a bell-like call
    currawong.
WordNet

bell metal

  • noun bronze with 3 or 4 parts copper to 1 part tin; used in making bells
WordNet
Bell" met`al
Definitions
  1. A hard alloy or bronze, consisting usually of about three parts of copper to one of tin; -- used for making bells.
Webster 1913

bell morel

  • noun a morel whose fertile portion resembles a bell and is attached to the stipe only at the top
    Verpa.
WordNet

bell pepper

  • noun plant bearing large mild thick-walled usually bell-shaped fruits; the principal salad peppers
    pimiento; sweet pepper plant; sweet pepper; paprika; pimento; Capsicum annuum grossum.
  • noun large bell-shaped sweet pepper in green or red or yellow or orange or black varieties
WordNet
Bell" pep`per
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) A species of Capsicum, or Guinea pepper (C. annuum). It is the red pepper of the gardens.
Webster 1913

Bell pull

  • a cord, handle, or knob, connecting with a bell or bell wire, and which will ring the bell when pulled. Aytoun.
Webster 1913

Bell punch

  • a kind of conductor's punch which rings a bell when used.
Webster 1913

bell push

  • noun a button that is pushed to ring a bell
WordNet

Bell ringer

  • noun a person who rings church bells (as for summoning the congregation)
    toller; ringer.
  • noun someone who plays musical handbells
  • noun something that exactly succeeds in achieving its goal
    bull's eye; home run; mark.
    • the new advertising campaign was a bell ringer
    • scored a bull's eye
    • hit the mark
    • the president's speech was a home run
WordNet
  • one who rings a bell or bells, esp. one whose business it is to ring a church bell or chime, or a set of musical bells for public entertainment.
Webster 1913

bell ringing

  • noun the sound of someone playing a set of bells
  • noun persuasion of voters in a political campaign
    electioneering; canvassing.
  • noun playing a set of bells that are (usually) hung in a tower
    carillon; carillon playing.
WordNet

Bell roof

  • (Arch.), a roof shaped according to the general lines of a bell.
Webster 1913

Bell rope

  • a rope by which a church or other bell is rung.
Webster 1913

bell seat

  • noun a seat that has a bell shape (on some 18th century chairs)
    balloon seat.
WordNet

bell shape

  • noun the shape of a bell
    campana; bell.
WordNet

Bell tent

  • noun a bell-shaped tent
WordNet
  • a circular conical-topped tent.
Webster 1913

bell the cat

  • verb take a risk; perform a daring act
    • Who is going to bell the cat?
WordNet

bell toad

  • noun western North American frog with a taillike copulatory organ
    Ascaphus trui; tailed toad; ribbed toad; tailed frog.
WordNet

bell tower

  • noun a tower that supports or shelters a bell
WordNet

Bell trap

  • a kind of bell shaped stench trap.
Webster 1913

bell-bottom

  • adjective satellite (of trousers) having legs that flare at the bottom
    bellbottom; bell-bottom.
    • bell-bottomed trousers
WordNet

bell-bottomed

  • adjective satellite (of trousers) having legs that flare at the bottom
    bellbottom; bell-bottom.
    • bell-bottomed trousers
WordNet

bell-bottoms

  • noun trousers with legs that flare; worn by sailors; absurdly wide hems were fashionable in the 1960s
    bellbottom trousers; bellbottom pants.
WordNet

bell-faced

Bell"-faced` adjective
Definitions
  1. Having the striking surface convex; -- said of hammers.
Webster 1913

bell-like call

  • noun a birdcall that resembles the tone of a bell
WordNet

bell-mouthed

Bell"-mouthed` adjective
Definitions
  1. Expanding at the mouth; as, a bell-mouthed gun. Byron.
Webster 1913

bell-shaped

  • adjective satellite having a convex shape that resembles a bell
WordNet
Bell"-shaped` adjective
Definitions
  1. Having the shape of a widemouthed bell; campanulate.
Webster 1913

bell-shaped curve

  • noun a symmetrical curve representing the normal distribution
    normal curve; Gaussian shape; Gaussian curve.
WordNet

belles lettres

  • noun creative writing valued for esthetic content
    belles lettres.
WordNet

belles-lettres

  • noun creative writing valued for esthetic content
    belles lettres.
WordNet
Belles-let"tres noun plural
Etymology
F.
Definitions
  1. Polite or elegant literature; the humanities; -- used somewhat vaguely for literary works in which imagination and taste are predominant.
Webster 1913

bells of ireland

  • noun aromatic annual with a tall stems of small whitish flowers enclosed in a greatly enlarged saucer-shaped or bell-shaped calyx
    molucca balm; Molucella laevis.
WordNet

bow-bells

Bow"-bells` noun plural
Definitions
  1. The bells of Bow Church in London; cockneydom.
    People born within the sound of Bow-bells are usually called cockneys. Murray's Handbook of London.
Webster 1913

brown bells

  • noun California herb with brownish-purple or greenish bell-shaped flowers
    Fritillaria parviflora; Fritillaria micrantha.
WordNet

california yellow bells

  • noun viscid herb of arid or desert habitats of southwestern United States having pendulous yellow flowers
    California yellow bells; whispering bells; Emmanthe penduliflora.
WordNet

canterbury bell

  • noun herb of Colombia to Peru having pale purple flowers
    Gloxinia perennis.
  • noun European biennial widely cultivated for its blue or violet or white flowers
    Campanula medium; cup and saucer.
WordNet

christmas bells

  • noun any of several plants of the genus Blandfordia having large orange or crimson flowers
WordNet

church bell

  • noun a bell in a church tower (usually sounded to summon people to church)
    • church bells were ringing all over town
WordNet

currer bell

  • noun English novelist; one of three Bronte sisters (1818-1848)
    Bronte; Emily Jane Bronte; Emily Bronte.
WordNet

Death bell

  • noun a bell rung to announce a death
    death knell.
WordNet
  • a bell that announces a death.
    The death bell thrice was heard to ring. Mickle.
Webster 1913

dinner bell

  • noun a bell rung to announce that dinner has been served
WordNet

Diving bell

  • noun diving apparatus for underwater work; has an open bottom and is supplied with compressed air
WordNet
  • a hollow inverted vessel, sometimes bell-shaped, in which men may descend and work under water, respiration being sustained by the compressed air at the top, by fresh air pumped in through a tube from above.
Webster 1913

dumb-bell

Dumb"-bell` noun
Definitions
  1. A weight, consisting of two spheres or spheroids, connected by a short bar for a handle; used (often in pairs) for gymnastic exercise.
Webster 1913

electric bell

  • noun a bell activated by the magnetic effect of an electric current
WordNet

fairy bell

  • noun tall leafy European biennial or perennial having spectacular clusters of large tubular pink-purple flowers; leaves yield drug digitalis and are poisonous to livestock
    Digitalis purpurea; fingerroot; fingerflower; common foxglove; finger-flower; finger-root.
WordNet

fire bell

  • noun a bell rung to give a fire alarm
WordNet

Fog alarm, Fog bell, Fog horn, etc.

  • a bell, horn, whistle or other contrivance that sounds an alarm, often automatically, near places of danger where visible signals would be hidden in thick weather.
Webster 1913

Hand bell

  • a small bell rung by the hand; a table bell. Bacon.
Webster 1913

Heather bell

  • noun common low European shrub with purple-red flowers
    fine-leaved heath; bell heather; Erica cinerea.
WordNet
  • (Bot.), one of the pretty subglobose flowers of two European kinds of heather (Erica Tetralix, and E. cinerea).
Webster 1913

Hedge bells, Hedge bindweed

  • (Bot.), a climbing plant related to the morning-glory (Convolvulus sepium).
Webster 1913

honey bell

  • noun African shrub having decumbent stems and slender yellow honey-scented flowers either solitary or in pairs
    Hermannia verticillata; Mahernia verticillata; honeybells.
WordNet

Liberty bell

  • noun the bell of Independence Hall; rung 8 July 1776 to announce the signing of the Declaration of Independence
WordNet
  • . See under Bell.
Webster 1913

Market bell

  • a bell rung to give notice that buying and selling in a market may begin. Eng. Shak.
Webster 1913

Mass bell

  • the sanctus bell. See Sanctus.
Webster 1913

melville bell

  • noun a phonetician and father of Alexander Graham Bell (1819-1905)
    Alexander Melville Bell; Bell.
WordNet

merry bells

  • noun any of various plants of the genus Uvularia having yellowish drooping bell-shaped flowers
    bellwort; wild oats.
WordNet

Minute bell

  • a bell tolled at intervals of a minute, as to give notice of a death or a funeral.
Webster 1913

mission bells

  • noun herb of southwestern United States having dark purple bell-shaped flowers mottled with green
    black fritillary; Fritillaria biflora.
  • noun herb of northwestern America having green-and-purple bell-shaped flowers
    Fritillaria affinis; Fritillaria lanceolata; Fritillaria mutica; rice-grain fritillary.
WordNet

Mote bell

  • the bell rung to summon to a mote. Obs.
Webster 1913

night bell

  • noun a doorbell to be used at night
WordNet

oconee bells

  • noun plant of southeastern United States having solitary white funnel-shaped flowers flushed with pink and large glossy green leaves that turn bronze-red in fall
    Shortia galacifolia.
WordNet

orchestral bells

  • noun a percussion instrument consisting of a set of graduated metal bars mounted on a frame and played with small hammers
    glockenspiel.
WordNet

Passing bell

  • a tolling of a bell to announce that a soul is passing, or has passed, from its body (formerly done to invoke prayers for the dying); also, a tolling during the passing of a funeral procession to the grave, or during funeral ceremonies.
Webster 1913

peach bell

  • noun perennial European bellflower with racemose white or blue flowers
    peach bell; Campanula persicifolia; peach bells.
WordNet

peach bells

  • noun perennial European bellflower with racemose white or blue flowers
    peach bell; Campanula persicifolia; peach bells.
WordNet

Sacring bell

  • . See Sanctus bell, under Sanctus.
Webster 1913

Saint's bell

  • . See Sanctus bell, under Sanctus.
Webster 1913

sance-bell

Sance"-bell", Sanct"te bell" noun (Also<
  • Sance-bell
  • Sanctte bell
)
Definitions
  1. See Sanctus bell, under Sanctus.
Webster 1913

Sanctus bell

  • a small bell usually suspended in a bell cot at the apex of the nave roof, over the chancel arch, in mediæval churches, but a hand bell is now often used; so called because rung at the singing of the sanctus, at the conclusion of the ordinary of the Mass, and again at the elevation of the host. Called also Mass bell, sacring bell, saints' bell, sance-bell, sancte bell.
Webster 1913

school bell

  • noun a bell rung to announce beginning or ending of class
WordNet

sheep bell

  • noun a bell hung round the neck of a sheep so that the sheep can be easily located
WordNet

ship's bell

  • noun (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.
    bell.
WordNet

shop bell

  • noun a bell attached to the door of a small shop; warns the proprietor that a customer has entered the shop
WordNet

silver bell

  • noun any of various deciduous trees of the genus Halesia having white bell-shaped flowers
WordNet

Silver-bell tree

  • noun medium-sized tree of West Virginia to Florida and Texas
    Halesia tetraptera; silverbell tree; Halesia carolina; snowdrop tree; opossum wood.
WordNet
  • (Bot.), an American shrub or small tree (Halesia tetraptera) with white bell-shaped flowers in clusters or racemes; the snowdrop tree.
Webster 1913

Sleigh bell

  • noun a bell attached to a sleigh, or to the harness of a horse that is pulling a sleigh
    cascabel.
WordNet
  • a small bell attached either to a horse when drawing a slegh, or to the sleigh itself; especially a globular bell with a loose ball which plays inside instead of a clapper.
Webster 1913

Soul bell

  • the passing bell. Bp. Hall.
Webster 1913

stink bell

  • noun a malodorous California herb with bell-shaped flowers; a common weed in grainfields
    Fritillaria agrestis.
WordNet

sweet bells

  • noun bushy deciduous shrub of the eastern United States with long racemes of pinkish flowers
    Leucothoe racemosa.
WordNet

Swimming bell

  • (Zoöl.), a nectocalyx. See Illust. under Siphonophora.
Webster 1913

telephone bell

  • noun electric bell that rings to signal a call
WordNet

The Liberty Bell

  • the famous bell of the Philadelphia State House, which rang when the Continental Congress declared the Independence of the United States, in 1776. It had been cast in 1753, and upon it were the words "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof."
Webster 1913

To bear away the bell

  • to win the prize at a race where the prize was a bell; hence, to be superior in something. Fuller.
Webster 1913

To bear the bell

  • to be the first or leader; in allusion to the bellwether or a flock, or the leading animal of a team or drove, when wearing a bell.
Webster 1913

To course by bell, book, and candle

  • . See under Bell.
Webster 1913

To curse by bell, book, and candle

  • a solemn form of excommunication used in the Roman Catholic church, the bell being tolled, the book of offices for the purpose being used, and three candles being extinguished with certain ceremonies. Nares.
Webster 1913

To lose the bell

  • to be worsted in a contest. "In single fight he lost the bell." Fairfax.
Webster 1913

To ring the bells backward

  • to sound the chimes, reversing the common order; formerly done as a signal of alarm or danger. Sir W. Scott.
Webster 1913

To shake the bells

  • to move, give notice, or alarm.
Webster 1913

vanessa bell

  • noun English painter; sister of Virginia Woolf; prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group (1879-1961)
    Vanessa Stephen; Bell.
WordNet

warning bell

  • noun a bell used to sound an alarm
    tocsin.
WordNet

Watch bell

  • (Naut.), a bell struck when the half-hour glass is run out, or at the end of each half hour. Craig.
Webster 1913

whispering bells

  • noun viscid herb of arid or desert habitats of southwestern United States having pendulous yellow flowers
    California yellow bells; whispering bells; Emmanthe penduliflora.
WordNet

willow bell

  • noun perennial European bellflower with racemose white or blue flowers
    peach bell; Campanula persicifolia; peach bells.
WordNet

wind bell

  • noun a decorative arrangement of pieces of metal or glass or pottery that hang together loosely so the wind can cause them to tinkle
    wind chime.
WordNet

yellow bells

  • noun viscid herb of arid or desert habitats of southwestern United States having pendulous yellow flowers
    California yellow bells; whispering bells; Emmanthe penduliflora.
WordNet