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Bell vs Tower - What's the difference?

bell | tower |

In intransitive terms the difference between bell and tower

is that bell is to bellow or roar while tower is to be high or lofty; to soar.

As nouns the difference between bell and tower

is that bell is a percussive instrument made of metal or other hard material, typically but not always in the shape of an inverted cup with a flared rim, which resonates when struck while tower is a structure, usually taller than it is wide, often used as a lookout, usually unsupported by guy-wires.

As verbs the difference between bell and tower

is that bell is to attach a bell to while tower is to be very tall.

As a proper noun Bell

is a Scottish and northern English surname for a bell ringer, bellmaker, or from someone who lived "at the Bell (inn).

bell

English

(wikipedia bell)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A percussive instrument made of metal or other hard material, typically but not always in the shape of an inverted cup with a flared rim, which resonates when struck.
  • * 1848 , Edgar Allan Poe, "(The Bells)"
  • HEAR the sledges with the bells
    Silver bells !
    What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
  • The sounding of a bell as a signal.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=December 18 , author=Ben Dirs , title=Carl Froch outclassed by dazzling Andre Ward , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Referee Steve Smoger was an almost invisible presence in the ring as both men went at it, although he did have a word with Froch when he landed with a shot after the bell at the end of the eighth.}}
  • (chiefly, British, informal) A telephone call.
  • I’ll give you a bell later.
  • A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
  • (music) The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
  • (nautical) Any of a series of strokes on a bell (or similar), struck every half hour to indicate the time (within a four hour watch)
  • The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
  • (computing) A device control code that produces a beep (or rings a small electromechanical bell on older teleprinters etc.).
  • Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
  • * Shakespeare
  • In a cowslip's bell I lie.
  • (architecture) The part of the capital of a column included between the abacus and neck molding; also used for the naked core of nearly cylindrical shape, assumed to exist within the leafage of a capital.
  • Derived terms
    * * bell curve * bellbottoms * bellflower * bell-ringer * bell tower * * bicycle bell * bluebell * church bell * doorbell * handbell * harebell * ring someone's bell * saved by the bell * sound as a bell * with bells on
    See also
    * alarm * buzz * buzzer * carillon * chime * clapper * curfew * dinger * ding-dong * gong * peal * ringer * siren * tintinnabulum * tocsin * toll * vesper

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To attach a bell to.
  • Who will bell the cat?
  • To shape so that it flares out like a bell.
  • to bell a tube
  • (slang) To telephone.
  • * 2006 , Dominic Lavin, Last Seen in Bangkok
  • "Vinny, you tosser, it's Keith. I thought you were back today. I'm in town. Bell us on the mobile.''
  • To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.
  • Hops bell .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m). Cognate with (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To bellow or roar.
  • * 1774 , Oliver Goldsmith, A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature :
  • This animal is said to harbour'' in the place where he resides. When he cries, he is said to ''bell'' ; the print of his hoof is called the ''slot''; his tail is called the ''single''; his excrement the ''fumet''; his horns are called his ''head [...].
  • * (rfdate) Rudyard Kipling
  • As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled / Once, twice and again!
  • * 1955 , William Golding, The Inheritors , Faber and Faber 2005, page 128:
  • Then, incredibly, a rutting stag belled by the trunks.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.
  • tower

    English

    (wikipedia tower)

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) torr, from (etyl) turris. Probably influenced by Welsh .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A structure, usually taller than it is wide, often used as a lookout, usually unsupported by guy-wires.
  • From the top of the tower we could see far off into the distance.
  • (figuratively) Any item, such as a computer case, that is usually higher than it is wide.
  • (informal) An interlocking tower.
  • (figurative) A strong refuge; a defence.
  • * Bible, Psalms lxi. 3
  • Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
  • (historical) A tall fashionable headdress.
  • * Hudibras
  • Lay trains of amorous intrigues / In towers , and curls, and periwigs.
  • (obsolete) High flight; elevation.
  • (Johnson)
  • The sixteenth trump or Major Arcana card in many decks, deemed an ill omen.
  • Synonyms
    * donjon
    Derived terms
    * control tower * guardtower * interlocking tower * radio tower * siege tower * tower of Babel * towers of Hanoi * tower of strength * watchtower * water tower

    See also

    * * mast

    Verb

  • To be very tall.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
  • To be high or lofty; to soar.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • My lord protector's hawks do tower so well.
  • (obsolete) To soar into.
  • (Milton)

    Derived terms

    * tower over

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who tows.
  • * 1933 , Henry Sturmey, ?H. Walter Staner, The Autocar
  • But as the tower and towee reached the cross-roads again, another car, negligently driven, came round the corner, hit the Morris, and severed the tow rope, sending the unfortunate car back again into the shop window

    Anagrams

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