Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To make the deep roaring sound characteristic of a bull.
  • intransitive verb To shout in a deep voice.
  • intransitive verb To utter in a loud, powerful voice. synonym: yell.
  • noun The roar of a large animal, such as a bull.
  • noun A very loud utterance or other sound.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To roar; make a hollow, loud noise, as a bull, cow, or deer.
  • Of persons, to make any violent outcry; vociferate; clamor: used in ridicule or contempt.
  • To roar, as the sea in a tempest, or as the wind when violent; make a loud, hollow, continued sound.
  • To utter in a loud deep voice; vociferate: generally with out or forth.
  • noun A roar, as of a bull; a loud outcry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A loud resounding outcry or noise, as of an enraged bull; a roar.
  • transitive verb To emit with a loud voice; to shout; -- used with out.
  • intransitive verb To make a hollow, loud noise, as an enraged bull.
  • intransitive verb To bowl; to vociferate; to clamor.
  • intransitive verb To roar; as the sea in a tempest, or as the wind when violent; to make a loud, hollow, continued sound.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the deep roar of a large animal, or any similar loud noise
  • verb to make a noise like the deep roar of a large animal
  • verb to shout or scream in a deep voice

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb shout loudly and without restraint
  • noun United States author (born in Canada) whose novels influenced American literature after World War II (1915-2005)
  • verb make a loud noise, as of animal
  • noun a very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English belwen, perhaps from Old English belgan, to be enraged, and bylgan, to bellow.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English belwen, from Old English bylgian, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European base *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”), cognate with belg “leather bag,” bellan “to roar,” blāwan “to blow”. Cognate with German bellen ("to bark"), Old Slavonic блея (Russian блеять ("baa, bleat")).

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Examples

  • Anyway, on the bright side you do not have to run the heat at all during the day ... sometimes, and even in bellow 40 degrees temps, you actually have to open the windows because it gets too hot!

    Waldo Jaquith - Degree days and energy usage. 2007

  • My husband still laughs when he thinks about the first time he stepped onto the dirt floor of this place and heard a customer bellow from the back, "Hey, man - do you have Canadian Hunter in a fifth" (pronounced "fey-uth" - because those folks know how to create two syllable words out of one).

    Archive 2005-06-01 Jessica 2005

  • My husband still laughs when he thinks about the first time he stepped onto the dirt floor of this place and heard a customer bellow from the back, "Hey, man - do you have Canadian Hunter in a fifth" (pronounced "fey-uth" - because those folks know how to create two syllable words out of one).

    June 2005 Jessica 2005

  • My husband still laughs when he thinks about the first time he stepped onto the dirt floor of this place and heard a customer bellow from the back, "Hey, man - do you have Canadian Hunter in a fifth" (pronounced "fey-uth" - because those folks know how to create two syllable words out of one).

    "Napoleon, Don't Be Jealous That I've Been Chatting Online With Babes All Day" Jessica 2005

  • One reader writes, I know you are busy so what I write bellow is just background to the question above.

    Number Ten 2004

  • One reader writes, I know you are busy so what I write bellow is just background to the question above.

    September 2004 2004

  • Her stone hit the tauros in the throat His bellow was a strangled croak; he dropped to his knees with a splash, scrabbling at his neck.

    The Realms of the Gods Tamora Pierce 1996

  • Her stone hit the tauros in the throat His bellow was a strangled croak; he dropped to his knees with a splash, scrabbling at his neck.

    The Realms of the Gods Tamora Pierce 1996

  • Dimly she recalled his bellow at the amazed audience in the open doorway, the comfort of his kisses and his murmured words as he held her close during the night.

    Journey Into Love Logan, Jessica 1982

  • ‘A — hem!’ cried the same voice; and that, not in the tone of an ordinary clearing of the throat, but in a kind of bellow, which woke up all the echoes in the neighbourhood, and was prolonged to an extent which must have made the unseen bellower quite black in the face.

    Nicholas Nickleby 2007

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