If you wanted to describe the sound of a small brass bell that you can hold in your hand (this is an example image of what I mean - what word would you use? Brrring? Bling?
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what about jingle or ting? – Bogdan Lataianu Sep 12 '11 at 07:03
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7I believe Poe has all the bell sounds pretty much covered. In order of size, his bells jingle, tinkle, chime, ring, clang, knell, toll, and more. – Peter Shor Jul 03 '12 at 15:43
4 Answers
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The term should be tinkle. For example:
- A bell tinkled as the door opened.
- The maid tinkled a bell.
Alenanno
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@Patrick: Sorry, I changed it, I think this one is more appropriate. :) – Alenanno Sep 11 '11 at 11:52
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5Only the smallest bells tinkle. A good example is the bell that signals someone entering a shop. A hand bell of the size pictured makes quite a loud noise, and ring would be more appropriate, but maybe the OP's picture is not what was really intended. – z7sg Ѫ Jan 31 '12 at 12:17
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@z7sgѪ I have checked two dictionaries but none of them discriminates. What did you mean by "but maybe the OP's picture is not what was really intended"? I didn't get it. :) – Alenanno Jan 31 '12 at 14:03
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2tinkle: a light high ringing sound I just didn't think the picture looked like a "tinkly" bell. It's hard to tell though. You wouldn't say this guy's bell tinkles for example: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Town_crier_Peter_Moore.JPG/272px-Town_crier_Peter_Moore.JPG – z7sg Ѫ Jan 31 '12 at 14:25
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@z7sgѪ Now you've made me laugh! I was thinking of suggesting "tintinnabulation" (which I misspelled), but that guy's bell isn't of the tintinn... variety any more than it is "tinkly". – Ellie Kesselman May 26 '12 at 19:16
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2In my region (Canada) 'tinkle' is slang for 'urinate.' In context it would still mean the sound of a small bell, but listeners would not be able to help making the urination connection. – JAM Jul 03 '12 at 13:04
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For t@JAMs reasoning, it is probably better to say "the bell tinkled" than "the person tinkled the bell". – Schroedingers Cat Jul 03 '12 at 13:11
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Edgar Allen Poe's poem The Bells pretty much covers this. In this poem:
sleigh bells tinkle and jingle,
wedding bells ring and chime,
alarm bells clang,
funeral bells toll and knell.
For small bells, I think tinkle, jingle, ring would all apply.
Peter Shor
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The sound of a hand held brass bell, to me, is "ding-a-ling."
"Tinkle" would apply at best to a very small bell (and at worst is slang for urinate as I commented above), and "brrring" would apply to the repeated hammering on a bell such as one used to hear telephones or school bells make. "Bling" is slang for gaudy jewellery!
JAM
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