Meanings
plural bell ringers · alternative bellringer · alternative bell-ringer
- derogatoryA door-to-door salesman.
- educationAn assignment, done regularly at the beginning of a class, and intended as a warm-up before other classroom activities.
- anatomyA type of anatomy exam in which students must answer questions at a series of stations and move on to the next station when a bell is rung.
In Health Sciences, Dr. Ball was always available to us in the anatomy lab giving us tips and tricks for bell ringers. You can tell he genuinely cares about teaching, because why else would he wear a uterus costume!
2018 May 24, “Meet today's Faculty of Health Sciences valedictorian”, in McMaster Daily News, archived from the original on 03 Apr 2023
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
nouna person who rings church bells (as for summoning the congregation)
nounsomething that exactly succeeds in achieving its goal
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishbelringer
- Englishbell ringer
Inherited from Middle English belringer, belle ringer, bellryngar, belryngere, equivalent to bell + ringer.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan campaner
- campanerbell ringer
Czech zvoník, zvonice
- zvoníkbell ringer
- zvonicebell ringer
Danish klokker, ringer
- klokkerbell ringer
- ringerbell ringer
Dutch klokkenluider, klokkenluidster
- klokkenluiderbell ringer
- klokkenluidsterbell ringer
Finnish kellonsoittaja
- kellonsoittajabell ringer
French sonneur de cloches, sonneuse de cloches
- sonneur de clochesbell ringer
- sonneuse de clochesbell ringer
- sonneurbell ringer
- sonneusebell ringer
German Glöckner, Glöcknerin
- Glöcknerbell ringer
- Glöcknerinbell ringer
Greek κωδωνοκρούστης, κωδωνοκρούστης
- κωδωνοκρούστης (kodonokroústis)bell ringer
- κωδωνοκρούστης (kodonokroústis)bell ringer
Hungarian harangozó
- harangozóbell ringer
Irish clogaire
- clogairebell ringer
Italian campanaro, campanara
- campanarobell ringer
- campanarabell ringer
Lithuanian varpininkas, varpininkė
- varpininkasbell ringer
- varpininkėbell ringer
Norwegian Bokmål klokker, ringer
- klokkerbell ringer
- ringerbell ringer
Polish dzwonnik
- dzwonnikbell ringer
Portuguese sineiro, sineira
- sineirobell ringer
- sineirabell ringer
Romanian clopotar
- clopotarbell ringer
Russian звона́рь
- звона́рь (zvonárʹ)bell ringer
Slovak zvonár
- zvonárbell ringer
Spanish campanero, campanera
- campanerobell ringer
- campanerabell ringer
Swedish klockringare, ringare
- klockringarebell ringer
- ringarebell ringer
Ukrainian дзвона́р, дзвона́рка
- дзвона́р (dzvonár)bell ringer
- дзвона́рка (dzvonárka)bell ringer
Cite this entry
bell ringer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bell%20ringer
“bell ringer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bell%20ringer. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bell ringer,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bell%20ringer.
Source: bell ringer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.