noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A small bell designed to be rung by hand.

   "The bell sounded. It was a hand-bell, rung by a boy in the next class-room."

2. 2
   a bell that is held in the hand wordnet

Example

More examples

"The bell sounded. It was a hand-bell, rung by a boy in the next class-room."

Etymology

From Middle English handbelle, hande belle, from Old English handbelle (“handbell”). By surface analysis, hand + bell.

Related phrases

change ringing

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.