Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small, tinkling bell.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A bell; specifically, a grelot: especially applied to such an object of antique Roman origin.
- noun A rattle formed of small bells or small plates of metal.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A bell; also, a set or combination of bells or metal plates used as a musical instrument or as a toy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small
clinking bell .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Often, in the repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confused tintinnabulum from without.
Walden 2004
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Our name of the plant comes really from the Anglo-Saxon, Foxesglew or Fox music, in allusion to an ancient musical instrument composed of bells which were hanging from an arched support, _a tintinnabulum_, which this plant with its pendent bell-shaped flowers so exactly represents.
Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure William Thomas Fernie
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The Latin _tintinnabulum_, a little bell, and the English _tinkle_, the sound made by a little bell, are among the words which are readily recognized as having a natural relation to a certain trivial variety of sound.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 4, August, 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various
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Besides these there is also what Cowper called "clock-work tintinnabulum" -- mere empty jingle.
The Principles of English Versification Paull Franklin Baum
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See for example Martial, "Epig.", xiv, 161, where the signal for the opening of the baths is made with a tintinnabulum also described as œs thermarum.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2: Assizes-Browne 1840-1916 1913
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It may be noted here that in regard to this same tintinnabulum usage varies very much in different countries.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2: Assizes-Browne 1840-1916 1913
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We did not know how to play a tin whistle or beat upon the tintinnabulum.
Waysiders Seumas O'Kelly 1899
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He establishes himself firmly in the land with great joy and plenty; and he gathers round him all that makes life full-toned and harmonious, from the grand timbre of draught-ale and the organ-thunder of hunting, to the piccolo and tintinnabulum of Poker and maraschino.
Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series George Robert Aberigh-Mackay 1864
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Often, in the repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confused tintinnabulum from without.
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It seemed by the distant hum as if somebody's bees had swarmed, and that the neighbors, according to Virgil's advice, by a faint tintinnabulum upon the most sonorous of their domestic utensils, were endeavoring to call them down into the hive again.
palooka commented on the word tintinnabulum
A small tinkling or clinking bell.
April 7, 2008