name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
knell
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Canada, UK, US: /nɛl/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Australian: /nel/
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Queensland Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛl
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homophone: Nell
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CMU ARPABET: N EH1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
The sound of a bell knelling; a toll (particularly one signalling a death).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A sign of the end or demise of something or someone.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To ring a bell slowly, especially for a funeral; to toll.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To signal or proclaim something (especially a death) by ringing a bell.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To summon by, or as if by, ringing a bell.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a funeral or the end of something
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: bell, toll
verb
Meaning 8
make (bells) ring, often for the purposes of musical edification
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- Ring the bells
- My uncle rings every Sunday at the local church
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ring
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sound
Narrower terms: toll
verb
Meaning 9
ring as in announcing death
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: ring, peal
History
Etymology
From Middle English knyllen, from Old English cnyllan (“to strike; knock; clap”), from Proto-West Germanic *knuʀlijan, from Proto-Germanic *knuzlijaną (“to beat; push; mash”), from Proto-Indo-European *gen- (“to squeeze, pinch, kink, ball up”).
Across languages
Translations
41 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: камбанен звън (kambanen zvǎn) — sound of a bell knelling
- Catalan: toc — sound of a bell knelling
- Czech: umíráček — sound of a bell knelling
- Finnish: kumina — sound of a bell knelling
- Finnish: kilinä — sound of a bell knelling
- Finnish: soitto — sound of a bell knelling
- Finnish: kellonsoitto — sound of a bell knelling
- French: glas — sound of a bell knelling
- Galician: releixo — sound of a bell knelling
- German: Geläut — sound of a bell knelling
- German: Abschiedsgeläut — sound of a bell knelling
- German: letztes Geläut — sound of a bell knelling
- Italian: rintocco — sound of a bell knelling
- Middle English: knyl — sound of a bell knelling
- Polish: podzwonne — sound of a bell knelling
- Russian: звон (zvon) — sound of a bell knelling
- Scottish Gaelic: beum-cluig — sound of a bell knelling
- Bulgarian: бия на умряло (bija na umrjalo) — to ring a bell slowly
- Catalan: tocar — to ring a bell slowly
- Czech: zvonit — to ring a bell slowly
- Finnish: kumistaa — to ring a bell slowly
- French: sonner le glas — to ring a bell slowly
- Galician: releixar — to ring a bell slowly
- Galician: tocar a defunto — to ring a bell slowly
- Middle English: knyllen — to ring a bell slowly
- Polish: bić w dzwon — to ring a bell slowly
- Polish: dzwonić — to ring a bell slowly
- Russian: звони́ть (zvonítʹ) — to ring a bell slowly
- Scottish Gaelic: seirm — to ring a bell slowly
- Spanish: doblar — to ring a bell slowly
- Spanish: clamorear — to ring a bell slowly
- Spanish: encordar — to ring a bell slowly
- Swedish: kimma — to ring a bell slowly
- Catalan: tocar — to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell
- Czech: zvonit — to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell
- Finnish: kilistää — to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell
- Finnish: kumistaa — to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell
- French: sonner le glas — to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell
- Polish: bić w dzwon — to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell
- Polish: dzwonić — to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell
- Scottish Gaelic: seirm — to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell