Word Confusion: Bell versus Belle

Plural for the noun: bells
Gerund: belling

Third person present verb: bells
Past tense or past participle: belled
Present participle: belling

Plural: belles

• A device that includes or sounds like a bell, used to give a signal or warning
• [the bell] A bell rung to denote intervals of time, such as (in boxing and other sports) to mark the start or end of a round
• [Stock market; after the bell, before the bell] The sound that signals the beginning and end of a period of trading on a stock exchange
• A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending

A bell-shaped object or part of something

• [Music] The end of a trumpet or other brass instrument
• [Botany] The corolla of a bell-shaped flower
• [Zoology] The umbrella of a jellyfish
• [Diving] A hollow, usually inverted vessel, such as one used for diving deep below the surface of a body of water

[Music; bells] A musical instrument consisting of a set of cylindrical metal tubes of different lengths, suspended in a frame and played by being struck with a hammer

[Nautical; preceded by a numeral] The time as indicated every half hour of a watch by the striking of the ship’s bell one to eight times

• [Nautical] A signal on the telegraph of a large power vessel, made between the navigating officers and the engineer

[Metallurgy] A conical lid that seals the top of a blast furnace and lowers to admit a charge

[Architecture] The part of the capital of a column included between the abacus and neck molding

• [Architecture] The naked core of a nearly cylindrical shape, assumed to exist within the leafage of a capital

The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot

[Computers] A device control code that produces a beep or rings a small electromechanical bell on older teleprinters etc.

The cry of a stag or buck at rutting ²

Noun, proper:
[US, Canada] The Bell telephone company, named after the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell

A surname used by the Brontë sisters

Verb, intransitive:
Make a ringing sound likened to that of a bell ¹

Spread or flare outward like the lip of a bell

[Botany] To produce bells

[Botany; be in bell] Said of hops when the seed vessels are forming

[Of a stag or buck] Make a cry at rutting time ²

To bay, as a hunting dog

To utter long, deep, resonant sounds

• Bellow
• Roar

Verb, transitive:
Provide with a bell or bells ¹

• Attach a bell or bells to

[British; informal] Telephone someone

[Often followed by out] To cause to swell or expand like a bell

To shape so that it flares out like a bell

To bay, as a hunting dog ²

A woman or girl admired for her beauty and charm

A woman or girl who is beautifully dressed

A bell tinkled as he went in the shop.

I don’t know, but that name does ring a bell.

Aunt Nora’s words came clear as a bell.

The bell chamber of the church spire was desperately in need of repairs.

He rang his bicycle bell to warn pedestrians ahead of him.

At the bell, we dashed out of Latin class.

The fight went to the final bell for a decision.

Talk about being saved by the bell . . .

The acoustic properties of the trumpet’s bell was affected by all the dents.

The campanula is a flower with small pale blue bells.

“In a cowslip’s bell I lie” (Shakespeare).

The tiny jellyfish has a bell measuring five to ten millimeters wide.

One of my favorite albums is Tubular Bells.

The attack began at five bells in the forenoon of June 11.

The engineers hear the bell and move their handle to the same position to signal their acknowledgment of the order, and adjust the engine speed accordingly.

Lead blast furnaces are often open-topped rather than having the charging bell used in iron blast furnaces.

In the Corinthian order, the capital is an inverted bell, forming a concave support.

The company said after the bell on Wednesday that its quarterly profit rose because of a 36% increase in sales of its software.

“When connecting PE pipe to the bell end of a ductile iron or PVC pipe, it is recommended that a stiffener be added to the ID of the pipe to insure a good connection between the seal in the bell and the pipe” (Plastic Pipe.org).

We heard the bell of the stag in the distance.

We organize evening visits to the animal reserve on these two special weekends to listen to the stag’s bell and the clashing of the antlers as the animals fight.

Proper noun:
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë used Currer Bell, Ellis Bell, and Acton Bell as pseudonyms.

Vanessa Bell was a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group.

Verb, intransitive:
Rupert had that organ belling away.

Her shirt belled out behind.

The hops are in bell.

We could hear the stag bell in the distance.

My very earliest memories include playing beneath the trees and listening to the stags belling in the dusk.

Just then a stag belled loudly.

Ma Bell was broken up in 1984 into a slew of Baby Bells.

Verb, transitive:
The ponies were in gaudy belled harnesses.

The young men were belling and hobbling the horses before releasing them.

She readjusted her jingling, belled hat.

We have got to bell that damned cat!

No problem, I’ll bell her tomorrow.

Belling out the tubes will permit a freer passage of air.

Rosalind was the belle of the ball.

Look at Teri for example, beautiful in her prime, but now no longer a belle.

Her fledgling company conjures up headpieces known as fascinators — a cross between a hat and a hair accessory — which are proving a hit with mothers of the bride and wedding belles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Twelve seaside belles are risking blushes to raise vital cash for two good causes.

I am so excited because I’m talking to one of the great southern belles from Georgia.

Wedding belles: Wedding dresses and summer blossom were the order of the day in the village this week as some people have two weddings to attend in one weekend.

Businessmen adjusted their ties, women applied makeup, and young belles toyed with their locks.

The terrible twosome came unstuck after subjecting an innocent group of southern belles to a tirade of verbal abuse in the town centre.

1. Old English belle is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch bel.
2. Old English bellan meaning to bellow is of Germanic origin and related to the German bellen meaning to bark, bray.