bellows
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: arts
hobbies
lifestyle
photography
Etymology: From Middle English belwes, plural of belu, belwe, a northern form of beli, from Old English bæliġ, northern form of bielġ, from Proto-Germanic *balgiz. Compare German Balg. See also belly.
For the pronunciation /ˈbɛl.əs/, compare bodice, gallows.
Inflected forms:
form: bellows
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: bellowses
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: bellowsing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: bellowsed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: bellowsed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. At its most simple terms a bellows is a container which is deformable in such a way as to alter its volume which has an outlet or outlets where one wishes to blow air.
pos: noun
examples: When wood fires were common, so were bellows for helping start them.
That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.
gloss: Any flexible container or enclosure, as one used to cover a moving joint.
pos: noun
examples: The three motors on each bogie are force ventilated from a blower mounted in the adjacent nose-end compartment of the superstructure, the air being led by ducts and flexible bellows connections to the air inlet at the commutator end of the motor.
gloss: The lungs.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
informal
examples: “Why, who should J. B. mean by Joe, but old Joe Bagstock—Joseph—your slave—Joe, Ma’am? Here! Here’s the man! Here are the Bagstock bellows, Ma’am!” cried the Major, striking himself a sounding blow on the chest.
gloss: Flexible, light-tight enclosures connecting the lensboard and the camera back.
pos: noun
gloss: That which fans the fire of hatred, jealousy, etc.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
gloss: To operate a bellows; to direct air at (something) using a bellows.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: […] I was recommended to the place as a man who could give another man as good as he brought, and I took it. It’s easier than bellowsing and hammering.
So bellowsed, all the kindled soul of Hugh
Became a still white hell of brooding ire,
And through his veins regenerating fire
Ran, driving out the lethargy of pain.
The smiths of the heavens are mending the weather;
Their hammers are beating the fragments together.
The cumulus mountains with nebulous gorges
Are dazzled with flame of the wind-bellowsed forges;
He almost let the cigar go out. ‘Good God, no. We’re both exiles, aren’t we?’ He bellowsed the end red again and continued, delicate as a musician, his scoring.
This is a capricious devil, the furnace, though I say it myself, and it wants regular bellowsing.
gloss: To expand and contract like a bellows.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: […] [the dogs] sprang up, and, with a grand spraying of the crisp snow as they fleetly clambered up the steep side, they were with us in an incredibly short time, with pink tongues protruding, sides bellowsing, and sterns wagging.
The pony still lay on his side and the wound in his throat bellowsed in and out.
A sick-looking dog sat in the middle of the road, head down, sides bellowsing, white foam dripping from its muzzle to the heat-shimmering pavement.
The old man laughed without making a sound. His chest bellowsed and he opened his mouth to display a horseshoe of gold molars.
gloss: To fold up like a bellows; to accordion.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Without being tight […] the boot leg should fit close. The ankle should be supple as a stocking, and “bellowsed” to make sure of suppleness.
[…] the chairman of the gathered scholars […] [shushed] the black waiters preparing to feed us a hefty lunch behind the bellowsed dividing wall with the impatient yell, “You’re disturbing our meeting,” while we discussed their plight on our side of the wall.
[The bus] rolled swiftly down the hill and bellowsed five parked cars […]
Related words: bellowser
belly
blow
Derived words: bellowsfish
bellowsful
bellowslike
bellows to mend
hydrostatic bellows
water-bellows
Translations: