From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
bell
n 1: a hollow device made of metal that makes a ringing sound
when struck
2: a push button at an outer door that gives a ringing or
buzzing signal when pushed [syn: doorbell, buzzer]
3: the sound of a bell being struck; "saved by the bell"; "she
heard the distant toll of church bells" [syn: toll]
4: (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.
[syn: ship's bell]
5: the shape of a bell [syn: bell shape, campana]
6: a phonetician and father of Alexander Graham Bell
(1819-1905) [syn: Bell, Melville Bell, {Alexander
Melville Bell}]
7: English painter; sister of Virginia Woolf; prominent member
of the Bloomsbury Group (1879-1961) [syn: Bell, {Vanessa
Bell}, Vanessa Stephen]
8: United States inventor (born in Scotland) of the telephone
(1847-1922) [syn: Bell, Alexander Bell, {Alexander
Graham Bell}]
9: a percussion instrument consisting of vertical metal tubes
of different lengths that are struck with a hammer [syn:
chime, gong]
10: the flared opening of a tubular device
v : attach a bell to; "bell cows"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bell \Bell\, n. [AS. belle, fr. bellan to bellow. See Bellow.]
1. A hollow metallic vessel, usually shaped somewhat like a
cup with a flaring mouth, containing a clapper or tongue,
and giving forth a ringing sound on being struck.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Bells have been made of various metals, but the best
have always been, as now, of an alloy of copper and
tin.
[1913 Webster]
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."
[1913 Webster]
2. A hollow perforated sphere of metal containing a loose
ball which causes it to sound when moved.
[1913 Webster]
3. Anything in the form of a bell, as the cup or corol of a
flower. "In a cowslip's bell I lie." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Arch.) That 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.
[1913 Webster]
5. pl. (Naut.) The strikes of the bell which mark the time;
or the time so designated.
[1913 Webster]
Note: On shipboard, time is marked by a bell, which is struck
eight times at 4, 8, and 12 o'clock. Half an hour after
it has struck "eight bells" it is struck once, and at
every succeeding half hour the number of strokes is
increased by one, till at the end of the four hours,
which constitute a watch, it is struck eight times.
[1913 Webster]
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.
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.
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.
To lose the bell, to be worsted in a contest. "In single
fight he lost the bell." --Fairfax.
To shake the bells, to move, give notice, or alarm. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Bell is much used adjectively or in combinations; as,
bell clapper; bell foundry; bell hanger; bell-mouthed;
bell tower, etc., which, for the most part, are
self-explaining.
[1913 Webster]
Bell arch (Arch.), an arch of unusual form, following the
curve of an ogee.
Bell cage, or Bell carriage (Arch.), a timber frame
constructed to carry one or more large bells.
Bell cot (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.
Bell deck (Arch.), the floor of a belfry made to serve as a
roof to the rooms below.
Bell founder, one whose occupation it is to found or cast
bells.
Bell foundry, or Bell foundery, a place where bells are
founded or cast.
Bell gable (Arch.), a small gable-shaped construction,
pierced with one or more openings, and used to contain
bells.
Bell glass. See Bell jar.
Bell hanger, a man who hangs or puts up bells.
Bell pull, a cord, handle, or knob, connecting with a bell
or bell wire, and which will ring the bell when pulled.
--Aytoun.
Bell punch, a kind of conductor's punch which rings a bell
when used.
Bell ringer, 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.
Bell roof (Arch.), a roof shaped according to the general
lines of a bell.
Bell rope, a rope by which a church or other bell is rung.
Bell tent, a circular conical-topped tent.
Bell trap, a kind of bell shaped stench trap.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bell \Bell\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Belled; p. pr. & vb. n.
Belling.]
To put a bell upon; as, to bell the cat.
[1913 Webster]
2. To make bell-mouthed; as, to bell a tube.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bell \Bell\, v. i.
To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to
blossom; as, hops bell.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bell \Bell\, v. t. [AS. bellan. See Bellow.]
To utter by bellowing. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bell \Bell\, v. i.
To call or bellow, as the deer in rutting time; to make a
bellowing sound; to roar.
[1913 Webster]
As loud as belleth wind in hell. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
The wild buck bells from ferny brake. --Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
BELL
An early system on the IBM 650 and Datatron 200 series.
Versions: BELL L2, BELL L3.
[Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)].
[Is Datatron version the same?]
(1994-12-06)
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
Bell
<company> Bell Telephone or Bell Laboratories.
(1997-04-07)
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
bell
<character> ASCII 7, ASCII mnemonic "BEL", the {character
code} which prodces a standard audibile warning from the
computer or terminal. In the teletype days it really was a
bell, since the advent of the VDU it is more likely to be a
sound sample (e.g. the sound of a bell) played through a
loudspeaker.
Also called "G-bell", because it is typed as Control-G.
The term "beep" is preferred among some microcomputer
hobbyists.
Compare feep, visible bell.
(1997-04-08)