bellhouse
English
Alternative forms
- bell-house
Etymology
From Middle English belhous, bellehous, from Old English belhūs, bellhūs, equivalent to bell + house.
Noun
bellhouse (plural bellhouses)
- A structure housing a bell or bells; bell tower; belfry
- 1890, The Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage & Companionage of the British Empire:
- To constitute a Thane, it was necessary that he should possess a distinct office in the King's Court; or, being a churle or countryman, that he should have “fully five hides of his own land, a church, a kitchen, a bellhouse, and a boroughgate with a seat.”
- 2016, J. Thorsten Sellin, Slavery and the Penal System:
- Such houses were called Schallenwerke, or bellhouses, because while at work the prisoners, always in chains, had bells attached to the iron neck bands they wore.
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