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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A small, tinkling bell.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A bell; specifically, a grelot: especially applied to such an object of antique Roman origin.
  2. n. A rattle formed of small bells or small plates of metal.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A small clinking bell.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A bell; also, a set or combination of bells or metal plates used as a musical instrument or as a toy.

Etymologies

  1. From Latin tintinnābulum ("bell"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, from Latin tintinnābulum, from tintinnāre, to jingle, reduplication of tinnīre, to ring, of imitative origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The Latin _tintinnabulum_, a little bell, and the English _tinkle_, the sound made by a little bell, are among the words which are readily recognized as having a natural relation to a certain trivial variety of sound.”

    The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 4, August, 1864 Devoted To Literature And National Policy

  • “Besides these there is also what Cowper called "clock-work tintinnabulum" -- mere empty jingle.”

    The Principles of English Versification

  • “Our name of the plant comes really from the Anglo-Saxon, Foxesglew or Fox music, in allusion to an ancient musical instrument composed of bells which were hanging from an arched support, _a tintinnabulum_, which this plant with its pendent bell-shaped flowers so exactly represents.”

    Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure

  • “See for example Martial, "Epig.", xiv, 161, where the signal for the opening of the baths is made with a tintinnabulum also described as œs thermarum.”

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2: Assizes-Browne

  • “It may be noted here that in regard to this same tintinnabulum usage varies very much in different countries.”

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2: Assizes-Browne

  • “We did not know how to play a tin whistle or beat upon the tintinnabulum.”

    Waysiders

  • “He establishes himself firmly in the land with great joy and plenty; and he gathers round him all that makes life full-toned and harmonious, from the grand timbre of draught-ale and the organ-thunder of hunting, to the piccolo and tintinnabulum of Poker and maraschino.”

    Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series

  • “Often, in the repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confused tintinnabulum from without.”

    Walden~ Chapter 18 (historical)

  • “It seemed by the distant hum as if somebody's bees had swarmed, and that the neighbors, according to Virgil's advice, by a faint tintinnabulum upon the most sonorous of their domestic utensils, were endeavoring to call them down into the hive again.”

    Walden~ Chapter 07 (historical)

  • “Romano Imperio rebellis erat, statim imago illius provinciæ vertebat se contra illam; unde tintinnabulum resonabat quod pendebat ad collum; tuncque vates Capitolii qui erant custodes senatui, &c. He mentions an example of the Saxons and Suevi, who, after they had been subdued by”

    History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

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  • palooka A small tinkling or clinking bell. Apr 7, 2008

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‘tintinnabulum’ has been looked up 1311 times, loved by 5 people, added to 14 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 17.