belfry
English
Etymology
From Middle English belfrey, bellfray, belfray, from Old French belfroi, berfroi, berfrey (changed to have an ⟨l⟩ by association with bell), from Middle High German bërcvrit or bërvrit (“defensive tower”) (modern German Bergfried),[1][2][3] possibly via Late Latin berefredus, from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz. Doublet of bergfried.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbɛlfɹi/, enPR: bĕlʹfrē
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Noun
belfry (plural belfries)
- (architecture) A tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church.
- (architecture) A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], OCLC 560090630:
- From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.
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- (dialectal) A shed.
- (obsolete) A movable tower used in sieges.
- (obsolete) An alarm-tower; a watchtower containing an alarm-bell.
Derived terms
- have bats in one's belfry, have bats in the belfry
Translations
tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church
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part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells
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moveable tower used in sieges
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watchtower containing an alarm-bell
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References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “belfry”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- belfry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- Alternative spelling and languages with loanwords from the Middle High German word, in Benecke's Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch
- Michael Quinion (2004), “Belfry”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.