belfry
/ˈbɛlfɹi/ noun
Forms belfries
- noun (architecture) A tower or steeple typically containing bells, especially as part of a church.
- noun (architecture) A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.
- noun (dialectal) A shed.
- noun (obsolete) A movable tower used in sieges.
- noun (obsolete) An alarm-tower; a watchtower possibly containing an alarm-bell.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English belfry, bellfray, belfray, berfrey, barfray, from Old French belfroi, berfroi, berfrey, from Late Latin berfrēdus, from Frankish *bergafriþu, from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz, equivalent to barrow + frith. English forms containing bel- as opposed to ber- were preferred due to false association with English bell. Cognate with Middle High German bërcvrit, bërvrit (“defensive tower”) (modern German Bergfried), Middle Dutch bergfrede, bergfert. Doublet of bergfried.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A movable tower erected by besiegers for purposes of attack and defense.
- noun A bell tower, usually attached to a church or other building, but sometimes separate; a campanile.
Etymology [OE. berfray movable tower used in sieges, OF. berfreit, berfroit, F. beffroi, fr. MHG. bervrit, bercvrit, G. bergfriede, fr. MHG. bergen to protect (G. bergen to conceal) + vride peace, protection, G. friede peace; in compounds often taken in the sense of security, or place of security; orig. therefore a place affording security. G. friede is akin to E. free. See Burg, and Free.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “belfry”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details