King James Bible Dictionary

The bells first mentioned in Scripture are the small golden bells attached to the hem of the high priest's ephod (Exodus 28:33, 34, 35). The "bells of the horses" mentioned by Zechariah (14:20) were attached to the bridles or belts round the necks of horses trained for war, so as to accustom them to noise and tumult.

Attached to the hem of the priest's robe
Exodus 28:33-34; Exodus 39:25-26

On horses
Zech 14:20

BELL, noun

1. A vessel or hollow body, used for making sounds. Its constituent parts are a barrel or hollow body, enlarged or expanded at one end, an ear or cannon by which it is hung to a beam, and a clapper on the inside. It is formed of a composition of metals. Bells are of high antiquity. The blue tunic of the Jewish High Priest was adorned with golden bells; and the kings of Persia are said to have the hem of their robe adorned with them in like manner. Among the Greeks, those who went the nightly rounds in camps or garrisons, used to ring a bell at each sentinel-box, to see that the soldier on duty was awake. Bells were also put on the necks of criminals, to warn persons to move out of the way of so ill an omen, as the sight of a criminal or his executioner; also on the necks of beasts and birds, and in houses. In churches and other public buildings, bells are now used to notify the time of meeting of any congregation or other assembly.

In private houses, bells are used to call servants, either hung and moved by a wire, or as hand-bells. Small bells are also used in electrical experiments.

2. A hollow body of metal, perforated, and containing a solid ball, to give sounds when shaken; used on animals, as on horses or hawks.

3. Any thing in form of a bell as the cup or calix of a flower.

To bear the bell is to be the first or leader, in allusion to the bell-wether of a flock, or the leading horse of a team or drove, that wears bells on his collar.

To shake the bells, a phrase of Shakespeare, signifies to move, give notice or alarm.

BELL, verb intransitive To grow in the form of bells, as buds or flowers.

BELL'-FASHIONED, adjective Having the form of a bell

BEL'LADONNA, noun A plant, a species of Atropa, or deadly nightshade.

BEL'LATRIX, noun [Latin] A ruddy, glittering star of the second magnitude, in the left shoulder of Orion; so named from its imagined influence in exciting war.

BELLE, noun bel. [Latin bellus.] A young lady. In popular use, a lady of superior beauty and much admired.

BELL'ED, adjective Hung with bells.

BELLES-LETTERS, noun plural bel' letter, or anglicized, bell-letters. Polite literature; a word of very vague signification. It includes poetry and oratory; but authors are not agreed to what particular branches of learning the term should be restricted.

BELL'-FLOWER, noun [bell and flower.] A genus of plants, so named from the shape of the corol or flower which resembles a bell, Latin Campanula, a genus of monogynian pentanders, comprehending many species.

BELL'-FOUNDER, noun [bell and founder.] A man whose occupation is to found or cast bells.

BELL'-MAN, noun [bell man.] A man who rings a bell, especially to give notice of anything in the streets.

BELLIG'ERENT, adjective [Latin belliger, warlike; belligero, to wage war; from bellum, war, and gero, to wage; part. gerens, gerentis, waging. Gr. war.]

Waging war; carrying on war; as a belligerent nation.

BELLIG'ERENT, noun A nation, power or state carrying on war.

BELLIG'EROUS, adjective The same as belligerent. [Not used.]

BELL'ING, noun The noise of a roe in rutting time; a huntsman's term.

1. Growing or forming like a bell; growing full and ripe; used of hops; from bell.

BELLIP'OTENT, adjective [Latin bellum, war, and potens, powerful, bellipotens.]

Powerful or mighty in war. [Little used.]

BELLIQUE, adjective bellee'k. War-like. [Not used.]

BELL'LIBONE, noun A woman excelling both in beauty and goodness. [Not in use.]

BELL'-METAL, noun [bell and metal] A mixture of copper and tin, in the proportion of about ten parts of copper to one of tin, or according to Thomson, three parts to one, and usually a small portion of brass or zink; used for making bells.

BELL'-PEPPER, noun [bell and pepper.] A name of the Guinea pepper, a species of Capsicum. This is the red pepper of the gardens, and most proper for pickling.

BELL'-RINGER, noun One whose business is to ring a church or other bell.

BEL'LON, noun A disease, attended with languor and intolerable griping of the bowels, common in places where lead ore is smelted.

BELLO'NA, noun [from Latin bellum, war.] The goddess of war.

BEL'LOW, verb intransitive [Latin balo.]

1. To make a hollow, loud noise, as a bull; to make a loud outcry; to roar. In contempt, to vociferate or clamor.

2. To roar, as the sea in a tempest, or as the wind when violent; to make a loud, hollow, continued sound.

BEL'LOW, noun A loud outcry; roar.

BEL'LOWING, participle present tense Making a loud hollow sound, as a bull, or as the roaring of billows.

BEL'LOWING, noun A loud hollow sound or roar.

Occurs only in Jeremiah 6:29, in relation to the casting of metal. Probably they consisted of leather bags similar to those common in Egypt.

Used with the furnace of the founder.
Jeremiah 6:29

The word occurs only in (Jeremiah 6:29) where it denotes an instrument to heat a smelting furnace. Wilkinson in "Ancient Egypt," iii. 338, says, "They consisted of a leather, secured and fitted into a frame, from which a long pipe extended for carrying the wind to the fire. They were worked by the feet, the operator standing upon them, with one under each foot, and pressing them alternately, while he pulled up each exhausted skin with a string he held in his hand."

BEL'LOWS, noun sing.and plural [Latin bulga] An instrument, utensil or machine for blowing fire, either in private dwellings or in forges, furnaces and shops. It is so formed as by being dilated and contracted, to inhale air by a lateral orifice which is opened and closed with a valve, and to propel it through a tube upon the fire.

BEL'LOWS-FISH, noun The trumpet-fish, about four inches long, with a long snout; whence its name.

In (Exodus 28:33) the bells alluded to were the golden ones 72 in number, round the hem of the his priest's ephod. The object of them was so that his sound might be heard." (Exodus 28:34) Ecclus. 45.9. To this day bells are frequently attached, for the sake of their pleasant sound, to the anklets of women. The little girls of Cairo wear strings of them around their feet. In (Zechariah 14:20) "bells of the horses" were concave or flat pieces of brass, which were sometimes attached to horses for the sake of ornament.

BELL'-SHAPED, adjective [bell and shape.] Having the form of a bell.

BEL'LUINE, adjective [Latin belluinus, brom bellua, a beast.] Beastly; pertaining to or like a beast; brutal. [Little used.]

BELL'-WETHER, noun [bell and wether.] A wether or sheep which leads the flock, with a bell on his neck.

BELL'-WORT, noun A plant, the Uvularia.

The seat of the carnal affections (Titus 1:12; Philippians 3:19; Romans 16:18). The word is used symbolically for the heart (Proverbs 18:8; 20:27; 22:18, marg.). The "belly of hell" signifies the grave or underworld (Jonah 2:2).

Used figuratively for the seat of the affections.
Job 15:2; Job 15:35; Job 20:20; Psalms 44:25; Proverbs 18:20; Proverbs 20:27; Proverbs 20:30; Habakkuk 3:16; John 7:38; Titus 1:12

BEL'LY, noun

1. That part of the human body which extends from the breast to the thighs, containing the bowels. It is called also the abdomen or lower belly to distinguish it from the head and breast, which are sometimes called bellies, from their cavity.

2. The part of a beast, corresponding to the human belly

3. The womb. Jeremiah 1:5.

4. The receptacle of food; that which requires food, in opposition to the back.

Whose god is their belly Philippians 3:19.

5. The part of any thing which resembles the human belly in protuberance or cavity, as of a harp or a bottle.

6. Any hollow inclosed place; as the belly of hell, in Jonah.

7. In scripture, belly is used for the heart. Proverbs 18:8. 20.30.John 7:38. Carnal lusts, sensual pleasure. Romans 16:18. Philippians 3:19:19. The whole man. Titus 1:12.

BEL'LY, verb transitive To fill; to swell out.

BEL'LY, verb intransitive To swell and become protuberant, like the belly; as bellying goblets; bellying canvas.

1. To strut.

BEL'LY-ACHE,noun [belly and ache.] Pain in the bowels; the colic.

BEL'LY-ACHE BUSH or WEED, A species of Jatropha.

BEL'LY-BAND, noun A band that encompasses the belly of a horse, and fastens the saddle; a girth.

BEL'LY-BOUND, adjective Diseased in the belly, so as to be costive, and shrunk in the belly.

BEL'LY-CHEER, noun Good cheer, [Not used.]

BEL'LY-FRETTING, noun The chafing of a horse's belly, with a fore girt.

1. A violent pain in a horse's belly, caused by worms.

BEL'LYFUL, noun [belly and full.] As much as fills the belly, or satisfies the appetite. In familiar and ludicrous language, a great abundance; more than enough.

BEL'LY-GOD, noun [belly and god.] A glutton; one who makes a god of his belly; that is, whose great business or pleasure is to gratify his appetite.

BEL'LYING, participle present tense Enlarging capacity; swelling out, like the belly.

BEL'LY-PINCHED, adjective [See Pinch.] Starved; pinched with hunger.

BEL'LY ROLL, noun [See Roll.] A roller protuberant in the middle, to roll land between ridges, or in hollows.

BEL'LY-SLAVE, noun A slave to the appetite.

BEL'LY-TIMBER, noun [See Timber.[ Food; that which supports the belly.

BEL'LY-WORM, noun [See Worm.] A worm that breeds in the belly or stomach.