Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To ring slowly and solemnly, especially for a funeral; toll.
- v. To give forth a mournful or ominous sound.
- v. To signal, summon, or proclaim by tolling.
- n. The sound of a bell knelling; a toll.
- n. A signal of disaster or destruction.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To strike; knock.
- To toll, as a bell; ring for or at a funeral; knoll.
- To summon by or as if by a knell.
- To sound, as a bell, especially as a funeral bell.
- Hence To sound as an omen or a warning of coming evil.
- n. The sound caused by striking a bell; especially, the sound of a bell rung with solemn slowness at or for a funeral; a passing-bell.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive to ring a bell slowly, especially for a funeral; to toll.
- v. transitive to signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell.
- n. the sound of a bell knelling; a toll.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (figuratively), (figuratively) The stroke of a bell tolled at a funeral or at the death of a person; a death signal; a passing bell a warning or harbinger of, or a sound indicating, the passing away of anything; -- also called
death knell . - v. To sound as a knell; especially, to toll at a death or funeral; hence, to sound as a warning or evil omen.
- v. To summon, as by a knell.
WordNet 3.0
- v. ring as in announcing death
- v. make (bells) ring, often for the purposes of musical edification
- n. the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a funeral or the end of something
Etymologies
- Middle English knellen, from Old English cnyllan. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“When they had gone from house to house and collected all the money they could, they laid the wren on a bier and carried it in procession to the parish churchyard, where they made a grave and buried it "with the utmost solemnity, singing dirges over her in the Manks language, which they call her knell; after which Christmas begins.”
“When they had gone from house to house and collected all the money they could, they laid the wren on a bier and carried it in procession to the parish churchyard, where they made a grave and buried it with the utmost solemnity, singing dirges over her in the Manks language, which they call her knell; after which Christmas begins.”
Chapter 54. Types of Animal Sacrament. § 2. Processions with Sacred Animals
“In another moment it forged slowly past me, tolling as it were a death knell from the engine-bell and associating in my mind spectral tableaux of horrible collisions and mangled dead.”
“Manks language, which they call her knell; after which Christmas begins. ”
“When they had gone from house to house and collected all the money they could, they laid the wren on a bier and carried it in procession to the parish churchyard, where they made a grave and buried it “with the utmost solemnity, singing dirges over her in the Manks language, which they call her knell; after which”
“-- the slumber which visits her pillow, as she listens to that sad music she called her knell; her awakening from the vision of celestial joy to find herself still on earth --”
“a single one if the knell is for man, or two for a woman.”
“This is of course connected with "knell," though the only Kneller who has become famous was a German named Kniller.”
“Obama will be signing the death knell of the American Space Program. keny”
“BBC World Service cuts: 'This is the death knell' - video”
The Guardian: Letters: Anti-Murdoch hysteria could threaten Sky News
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘knell’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 135 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Bells and Whistles
Liberty Bell, Belle and Sebastian, Whistler's Mother, whistle stop, pennywhistle, whistle pig, wolf whistle, wet your whistle, barbell, bell jar, Bell's palsy, bell pepper and 138 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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PART 2: 100 Word You Should Know To B...
Here are 40 advanced English words which should you be able to use them in a sentence will impress even educated native speakers! Perfect if you want to impress the examiner in examinations like: I...
jubilant, knell, lithe, lurid, maverick, maxim, meticulous, modicum, morose, myriad, nadir, nominal and 28 more...
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songs for the dead
various funerary productions
lament, epicedium, dirge, requiem, elegy, exequy, obsequies, epicede, Thanatopsis, trental, threnody, myriologue and 32 more...
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Sounds
Shhh! Listen! Did you hear that?
tintinnabulous, susurration, ululation, pandemonium, keening, tinkle, clang, caterwaul, twangle, twank, din, rumble and 34 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1907 more...
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Shakespeare.01
cyme, fife, tyrant, apparition, lechery, feverous, equivocate, hautboy, unsanctified, owlet, weird sister, Hecate and 3 more...
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Dictionary.com Words of the Days of 1999
1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008
emolument, palindrome, deprecate, bivouac, umbrage, incipient, dapple, pugnacious, capitulate, susurrus, thaumaturgy, capacious and 229 more...
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my GRE words
pedant, wizened, histrionic, logorrhea, frenetic, approbation, quibble, knell, acclivity, droog, prevarication, aplomb and 182 more...
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word list!!!!
lagniappe
syzygy, bloviate, lagniappe, laconic, condign, umbrage, susurrus, thaumaturgy, capacious, capitulate, glower, repast and 179 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for knell.
Ms.Paradise12 (Knell) With this word is depressing now that i know the meaning a sound of a bell that toll one ring for a man and two ring toll for a woman at death Jun 19, 2011
sionnach Oops! That should be the grassy knoll, of course. But who was that young lady in the Old Curiosity Shop? Wasn't she called little knell?
OK, I'll stop now, I promise. Nov 8, 2007
sionnach the knell of parting day? the grassy knell? Nov 8, 2007
yarb What other kinds of knell are there apart from the death-knell? Nov 8, 2007