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 LataianuCommented Sep 12, 2011 at 7:03
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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 ShorCommented Jul 3, 2012 at 15:43
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4 Answers
The term should be tinkle. For example:
- A bell tinkled as the door opened.
- The maid tinkled a bell.
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@Patrick: Sorry, I changed it, I think this one is more appropriate. :)– AlenannoCommented Sep 11, 2011 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 ѪCommented Jan 31, 2012 at 12:17
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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: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/…– z7sg ѪCommented Jan 31, 2012 at 14:25
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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.– JAMCommented Jul 3, 2012 at 13:04
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.
answered Oct 31, 2015 at 16:04
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!
The sound of a small brass bell is a ‘tintinnabulation’.
