Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

bell 1       (běl)  Pronunciation Key  n.   A hollow metal musical instrument, usually cup-shaped with a flared opening, that emits a metallic tone when struck. Something resembling such an instrument in shape or sound, as: The round, flared opening of a wind instrument at the opposite end from the mouthpiece. bells A percussion instrument consisting of metal tubes or bars that emit tones when struck. A hollow, usually inverted vessel, such as one used for diving deep below the surface of a body of water. The corolla of a flower: "In a cowslip's bell I lie" (Shakespeare). A stroke on a hollow metal instrument to mark the hour. The time indicated by the striking of this instrument, divided into half hours. Nautical A stroke on a hollow metal instrument to mark the hour. The time indicated by the striking of this instrument, divided into half hours. v.   belled, bell·ing, bells v.   tr. To put a bell on. To cause to flare like a bell. v.   intr. To assume the form of a bell; flare. [Middle English belle, from Old English.]

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

bell 2       (běl)  Pronunciation Key  n.   The bellowing or baying cry of certain animals, such as a deer in rut or a beagle on the hunt. intr.v.   belled, bell·ing, bells To utter long, deep, resonant sounds; bellow. [From Middle English bellen, to bellow, from Old English bellan.]

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell       (běl)  Pronunciation Key  A city of southern California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Population: 37,500.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell, Alexander Graham 1847-1922.   (click for larger image in new window) Scottish-born American inventor of the telephone. The first demonstration of electrical transmission of speech by his apparatus took place in 1876. Bell also invented the audiometer, an early hearing aid, and improved the phonograph.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell,   (Arthur) British critic who proposed his aesthetic theory of significant form in Art (1914).

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell, James Thomas Known as "Cool Papa." 1903-1991.   American baseball player who spent his entire career in the Negro Leagues (1922-1950). Considered by many to be the fastest base runner ever, he reportedly stole 175 bases in 200 games in 1933.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
bell 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

bell
noun
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]
3.	the sound of a bell being struck; "saved by the bell"; "she heard the distant toll of church bells"
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.
5.	the shape of a bell
6.	a phonetician and father of Alexander Graham Bell (1819-1905)
7.	English painter; sister of Virginia Woolf; prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group (1879-1961)
8.	United States inventor (born in Scotland) of the telephone (1847-1922)
9.	a percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned bells that are struck with a hammer; used as an orchestral instrument [syn: chime]
10.	the flared opening of a tubular device
verb
1.	attach a bell to; "bell cows"

American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

bell

In addition to the idiom beginning with bell, also see clear as a bell; ring a bell; saved by the bell; sound as a bell; with bells on.

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell       (běl)  Pronunciation Key  Scottish-born American scientist and inventor whose lifelong interest in the education of deaf people led him to conceive the idea of transmitting speech by electric waves. In 1876 his experiments with a telegraph resulted in his invention of the telephone. He later produced the first successful sound recorder, an early hearing aid, and many other devices.

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell (běl), Sir Charles. 1774-1842.

British anatomist and surgeon who published detailed anatomies of the nervous system and the brain. He was the first to distinguish between sensory and motor nerves. Bell's Law and Bell's palsy are named for him.

Investopedia - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell

The ring that marks the open and close of each trading day on many organized financial exchanges, most notably the NYSE.

Investopedia Commentary

The bell usually starts ringing when there are five to ten seconds left in the trading day.

Related Links

The Tale Of Two Exchanges: NYSE And Nasdaq
Stock Basics Tutorial
Markets Demystified
Getting to Know Stock Exchanges

See also: Close, Floor Trader, Member Firm, NYSE, Open

Wallstreet Words - Cite This Source - Share This
bell

The device that sounds to mark the open and close of each trading day on an organized securities exchange.

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

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)

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell company
Bell Telephone or Bell Laboratories.
(1997-04-07)

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

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)

U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell Buckle, TN (town, FIPS 4460) Location: 35.59068 N, 86.35405 W
Population (1990): 326 (142 housing units)
Area: 1.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 37020

Bell Ranch, NM Zip code(s): 88441

Bell City, LA Zip code(s): 70630

Bell City, MO (city, FIPS 4132) Location: 37.02377 N, 89.81937 W
Population (1990): 469 (208 housing units)
Area: 1.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 63735

Bell Gardens, CA (city, FIPS 4996) Location: 33.96728 N, 118.15277 W
Population (1990): 42355 (9546 housing units)
Area: 6.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 90201

Bell Acres, PA (borough, FIPS 5216) Location: 40.59211 N, 80.17628 W
Population (1990): 1436 (543 housing units)
Area: 13.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

Bell County, TX (county, FIPS 27) Location: 31.03745 N, 97.47590 W
Population (1990): 191088 (75957 housing units)
Area: 2742.8 sq km (land), 73.0 sq km (water)

Bell County, KY (county, FIPS 13) Location: 36.73553 N, 83.67265 W
Population (1990): 31506 (12568 housing units)
Area: 934.4 sq km (land), 1.5 sq km (water)

Bell Center, WI (village, FIPS 6225) Location: 43.29196 N, 90.82537 W
Population (1990): 127 (45 housing units)
Area: 14.3 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water)

Bell, FL (town, FIPS 4975) Location: 29.75578 N, 82.86189 W
Population (1990): 267 (111 housing units)
Area: 3.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 32619

Bell, CA (city, FIPS 4870) Location: 33.97965 N, 118.17825 W
Population (1990): 34365 (9401 housing units)
Area: 6.6 sq km (land), 0.5 sq km (water)

Blue Bell, PA (CDP, FIPS 7224) Location: 40.14573 N, 75.26766 W
Population (1990): 6091 (2371 housing units)
Area: 13.9 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

Note: Bells have been made of various metals, but the best have always been, as now, of an alloy of copper and tin.

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."

2. A hollow perforated sphere of metal containing a loose ball which causes it to sound when moved.

3. Anything in the form of a bell, as the cup or corol of a flower. "In a cowslip's bell I lie." --Shak.

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.

5. pl. (Naut.) The strikes of the bell which mark the time; or the time so designated.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell

Bell\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Belled; p. pr. & vb. n. Belling.] To put a bell upon; as, to bell the cat.

2. To make bell-mouthed; as, to bell a tube.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell

Bell\, v. i. To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom; as, hops bell.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell

Bell\, v. t. [AS. bellan. See Bellow.] To utter by bellowing. [Obs.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell

Bell\, v. i. To call or bellow, as the deer in rutting time; to make a bellowing sound; to roar.

As loud as belleth wind in hell. --Chaucer.

The wild buck bells from ferny brake. --Sir W. Scott.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bell

The bells first mentioned in Scripture are the small golden bells attached to the hem of the high priest's ephod (Ex. 28:33, 34, 35). The "bells of the horses" mentioned by Zechariah (14:20) were attached to the bridles or belts round the necks of horses trained for war, so as to accustom them to noise and tumult.

Acronym Finder - Cite This Source - Share This

BELL

BELL: in Acronym Finder

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

bell

bell: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary