chime

plural chimes

1. entertainmentA musical instrument producing a sound when struck, similar to a bell (e.g. a tubular metal bar) or actually a bell. Often used in the plural to refer to the set: the chimes.

   Sylvia was a chime player in the school orchestra.

   1 more example

   Hugo had a recording of someone playing the chimes against a background of surf noise that she found calming.

2. An individual ringing component of such a set.

   Peter removed the C♯ chime from its mounting so that he could get at the dust that had accumulated underneath.

3. A small bell or other ringing or tone-making device as a component of some other device.

   The professor had stuffed a wad of gum into the chime of his doorbell so that he wouldn't be bothered.

4. The sound of such an instrument or device.

   Chimes sing Sunday morn.

   1 more example

   The copier gave a chime to indicate that it had finished printing.

5. A small hammer or other device used to strike a bell.

   Strike the bell with the brass chime hanging on the chain next to it.

present singular third person chimes · participle present chiming · participle past chimed · past chimed

1. intransitiveTo make the sound of a chime.

   The microwave chimed to indicate that it was done cooking.

   2 more examples

   I got up for lunch as soon as the wall clock began chiming noon.

   An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.

   1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163

2. transitiveTo cause to sound in harmony; to play a tune, as upon a set of bells; to move or strike in harmony.

   And chime their sounding hammers.

   1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

3. transitiveTo utter harmoniously; to recite rhythmically.

   Chime his childish verse.

   1809, Lord Byron, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers

4. intransitiveTo agree; to correspond.

   The other lab's results chimed with mine, so I knew we were on the right track with the research.

   1 more example

   Everything chimed in with such a humor.

   1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC

5. To make a rude correspondence of sounds; to jingle, as in rhyming.

   It shall not keep one settled pace of time, In the same tune it shall not always chime

   a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, Ode Upon Liberty

plural chimes

1. alternativeAlternative form of chine (“edge of a cask; part of a ship; etc.”).

   Let the chimes meet so that the chime of one cask shall not work into the head of the next.

   1859, Robert White Stevens, On the stowage of ships and their cargoes, page 59

   2 more examples

   The chime, or smooth curved surface of the cask, is produced by a dexterous use of the adze.

   1861, The English Cyclopædia: A New Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, page 185

   Instead of rolling the barrel on the chime, it is a common practice to lay it on its side and give it a push.

   1928, Gerald Arthur FitzGerald, Containers and Packages Used in Shipping Shucked Oysters