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bell-ringing

playing a set of bells that are (usually) hung in a tower.

Bell-shaped

Having the shape of a wide-mouthed bell; campanulate.

Belladonna

An herbaceous European plant (Atropa belladonna) with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries. The whole plant and its fruit are very poisonous, and the root and leaves are used as powerful medicinal agents. Its properties are largely due to the alkaloid atropine which it contains. Called also deadly nightshade. A species of Amaryllis (Amaryllis belladonna); the belladonna lily.

Bellarmine

A stoneware jug of a pattern originated in the neighborhood of Cologne, Germany, in the 16th century. It has a bearded face or mask supposed to represent Cardinal Bellarmine, a leader in the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation, following the Reformation; -- called also graybeard, longbeard.

Bellbird

A South and Central American bird of the genus Casmarhincos, and family Cotingid/, of several species; the campanero. The Myzantha melanophrys of Australia.

bellbottoms

trousers with legs that flare; commonly worn as part of a sailor's uniform; -- such absurdly wide hems were also fashionable in the 1960s.

bellboy

someone employed as an errand boy and luggage carrier around hotels.

Belle

A young lady of superior beauty and attractions; a handsome lady, or one who attracts notice in society; a fair lady.

Belled

Hung with a bell or bells.

Bellerophon

A genus of fossil univalve shells, believed to belong to the Heteropoda, peculiar to the Paleozoic age.

Belles-lettres

Polite or elegant literature; the humanities; -- used somewhat vaguely for literary works in which imagination and taste are predominant.

Bellflower

A kind of apple. The yellow bellflower is a large, yellow winter apple.

Bellibone

A woman excelling both in beauty and goodness; a fair maid.

Bellicose

Inclined to war or contention; warlike; pugnacious.

Bellied

Having (such) a belly; puffed out; -- used in composition; as, pot-bellied; shad-bellied.

Belligerent

A nation or state recognized as carrying on war; a person engaged in warfare.

Belling

A bellowing, as of a deer in rutting time.

Bellman

A man who rings a bell, especially to give notice of anything in the streets. Formerly, also, a night watchman who called the hours.

Bellow

A loud resounding outcry or noise, as of an enraged bull; a roar.

Bellower

One who, or that which, bellows.

Bellows

An instrument, utensil, or machine, which, by alternate expansion and contraction, or by rise and fall of the top, draws in air through a valve and expels it through a tube for various purposes, as blowing fires, ventilating mines, or filling the pipes of an organ with wind.

Belluine

Pertaining to, or like, a beast; brutal.

Bellwether

A wether, or sheep, which leads the flock, with a bell on his neck.

Bellwort

A genus of plants (Uvularia) with yellowish bell-shaped flowers.

Belly

To swell and become protuberant, like the belly; to bulge.

belly button bellybutton

The depression in the middle of the abdomen in humans left as a residue of the umbilical cord; the umbilicus; the navel{1}.

belly laugh

a vigorous, loud laugh, expressing a strong amusement.

belly up

to approach (a counter) and stand in front of it; -- used mostly in the phrase belly up to the bar (i.e. to a counter in a saloon).

Belly-god

One whose great pleasure it is to gratify his appetite; a glutton; an epicure.

belly-up belly up

defunct; bankrupt; -- used mostly of commercial organizations; often used in the phrase go belly-up, i. e. to go bankrupt.

Bellyache

to complain, especially in a whining or grumbling manner; to gripe.

bellyacher

a person who complains habitually, usually about everyday minor problems.

Bellyband

A band that passes under the belly of a horse and holds the saddle or harness in place; a girth.

Bellycheat

An apron or covering for the front of the person.

Bellyful

As much as satisfies the appetite. Hence: A great abundance; more than enough.

Belmopan

The capital city of Belize. Population (2000) = 5,845.

Belock

To lock, or fasten as with a lock.

Belomancy

A kind of divination anciently practiced by means of marked arrows drawn at random from a bag or quiver, the marks on the arrows drawn being supposed to foreshow the future.

Belonging

That which belongs to one; that which pertains to one; hence, goods or effects.

Belonite

Minute acicular or dendritic crystalline forms sometimes observed in glassy volcanic rocks.

Belooche Beloochee

Of or pertaining to Beloochistan, or to its inhabitants. A native or an inhabitant of Beloochistan.

Below

In a lower place, with respect to any object; in a lower room; beneath.

Belowt

To treat as a lout; to talk abusively to.

Belt

To encircle with, or as with, a belt; to encompass; to surround.

Belted

Encircled by, or secured with, a belt; as, a belted plaid; girt with a belt, as an honorary distinction; as, a belted knight; a belted earl.

Belting

The material of which belts for machinery are made; also, belts, taken collectively.

Beluga

A cetacean allied to the dolphins.

Belute

To bespatter, as with mud.

Belvedere

A small building, or a part of a building, more or less open, constructed in a place commanding a fine prospect.

Belzebuth

A spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth) of Brazil.

Bemaul

To maul or beat severely; to bruise.

Bemire

To drag through, encumber with, or fix in, the mire; to soil by passing through mud or dirt.

Bemoan

To express deep grief for by moaning; to express sorrow for; to lament; to bewail; to pity or sympathize with.

Bemoil

To soil or encumber with mire and dirt.

Bemol

The sign /; the same as B flat.

Bemonster

To make monstrous or like a monster.

Bemuddle

To muddle; to stupefy or bewilder; to confuse.

Bemuffle

To cover as with a muffler; to wrap up.

Bemuse

To muddle, daze, or partially stupefy, as with liquor.

Ben

An old form of the pl. indic. pr. of Be.

Ben Bene

A hoglike mammal of New Guinea (Porcula papuensis).

Bench

To sit on a seat of justice.

Bencher

One of the senior and governing members of an Inn of Court.

benday

to reproduce by the Benday method.

Bender

One who, or that which, bends.

Bending

The marking of the clothes with stripes or horizontal bands.

Bendlet

A narrow bend, esp. one half the width of the bend.

Bendy

Divided into an even number of bends; -- said of a shield or its charge.

Beneath

In a lower place; underneath.

Benedicite

An exclamation corresponding to Bless you !.

Benedict

Having mild and salubrious qualities.

Benedictine

One of a famous order of monks, established by St. Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century. This order was introduced into the United States in 1846.

Benedictory

Expressing wishes for good; as, a benedictory prayer.

Benedictus

The song of Zacharias at the birth of John the Baptist (Luke i. 68); -- so named from the first word of the Latin version.

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