bellow

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal)
  2. noun United States author (born in Canada) whose novels influenced American literature after World War II (1915-2005)
  3. verb shout loudly and without restraint

Etymology

From Middle English belwen, from Old English belgan, bylgan (“to become angry, to swell with rage”), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”), whence also belg (“leather bag”), bellan (“to roar”), blāwan (“to blow”). Cognate with German bellen (“to bark”), Russian бле́ять (bléjatʹ, “baa, bleat”). Compare billow (“wave”), of the same root, also bulge, with related etymology to swelling. Potentially related to bawl, Swedish böl (“bawl”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

bellowing, holla, holler, hollering, hollo, holloa, roar, roaring, yowl

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading