DINNER BELL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dinner bell mean? 

• DINNER BELL (noun)
  The noun DINNER BELL has 1 sense:

1. a bell rung to announce that dinner has been served

  Familiarity information: DINNER BELL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DINNER BELL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A bell rung to announce that dinner has been served

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("dinner bell" is a kind of...):

bell (a hollow device made of metal that makes a ringing sound when struck)

 Context examples 

For an hour this new pair walked and talked, or rested on the wall, enjoying the sweet influences which gave such a charm to time and place, and when an unromantic dinner bell warned them away, Amy felt as if she left her burden of loneliness and sorrow behind her in the chateau garden.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

While this attack lasted, the family lived in constant fear of a conflagration, for the odor of burning wood pervaded the house at all hours, smoke issued from attic and shed with alarming frequency, red-hot pokers lay about promiscuously, and Hannah never went to bed without a pail of water and the dinner bell at her door in case of fire.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)