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Webster 1913 Edition

Belfry

Bel′fry

,
Noun.
[OE.
berfray
movable tower used in sieges, OF.
berfreit
,
berfroit
, F.
beffroi
, fr. MHG.
bervrit
,
bercvrit
, G.
bergfriede
, fr. MHG.
bergen
to protect (G.
bergen
to conceal) +
vride
peace, protection, G.
friede
peace; in compounds often taken in the sense of security, or place of security; orig. therefore a place affording security. G.
friede
is akin to E.
free
. See
Burg
, and
Free
.]
1.
(Mil. Antiq.)
A movable tower erected by besiegers for purposes of attack and defense.
2.
A bell tower, usually attached to a church or other building, but sometimes separate; a campanile.
3.
A room in a tower in which a bell is or may be hung; or a cupola or turret for the same purpose.
4.
(Naut.)
The framing on which a bell is suspended.

Webster 1828 Edition

Belfry

BEL'FRY

,
Noun.
[L. belfredus.]
1.
Among military writers of the middle age, a tower erected by besiegers to overlook the place besieged, in which sentinels were placed to watch the avenues, and to prevent surprise from parties of the enemy, or to give notice of fires,by ringing a bell.
2.
That part of a steeple,or other building, in which a bell is hung, and more particularly, the timer work which sustains it.

Definition 2024

belfry

belfry

English

Noun

belfry ‎(plural belfries)

  1. (obsolete) A movable tower used in sieges.
  2. (dialectal) A shed.
  3. (obsolete) An alarm-tower; a watchtower containing an alarm-bell.
  4. (architecture) A tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church.
  5. (architecture) A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.
    • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Episode 12, The Cyclops
      From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ↑ belfry in Online Etymology dictionary
  2. ↑ belfry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  3. ↑ Alternative spelling and languages with loanwords from the Middle High German word, in Benecke's Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch

Etymology

Borrowing from Old French berfrey (changed to have an l by association with bell), from Middle High German [1][2]bërcvrit / bërvrit[3] , possibly from Late Latin berefredus, borrowed from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerĝʰ, *bʰr̥ĝʰ + *prāy-, *prēy- ‎(“to like, love”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: bĕlʹfrē, IPA(key): /ˈbɛlfri/

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