belfry
/ˈbɛlfɹi/
belfry noun: a tower or steeple typically containing bells, especially as part of a church.
Noun
belfry (plural belfries)
- A tower or steeple typically containing bells, especially as part of a church.
- “You know, this house does have a belfry filled with local bats. Maybe Laszlo went up there.” “Oh, so like my darling perverted husband, to sniff out the local bordello immediately upon arrival. [chuckles] Could you take me to the belfry?”2023 August 31, William Meny & Paul Simms, “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor” (9:33 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 9, spoken by The Guide (Kristen Schaal)
- A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.
- From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
- A shed.
- A movable tower used in sieges.
- An alarm-tower; a watchtower possibly containing an alarm-bell.
belfry meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Tagalog
belfry in Tamil
- மணிக்கோபுரம்
belfry in Bengali
- ঘণ্টাঘর
belfry in Telugu
- belfry
- గంటసాల gaṇṭasāla
belfry in Tagalog
- tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church
- batingawan
- part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells
- batingawan
Forms of belfry
| plural | belfries |
|---|
Origin of belfry
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.
Words formed from belfry
- belfried
- have bats in one's belfry
- have bats in the belfry
Phrases with belfry
Words that rhyme with belfry
Questions about belfry
- What does belfry mean?
- Belfry means a tower or steeple typically containing bells, especially as part of a church.
- What is belfry in Tamil?
- Belfry in Tamil is மணிக்கோபுரம். See Belfry meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is belfry?
- Belfry is a noun.
- How do you pronounce belfry?
- Belfry is pronounced /ˈbɛlfɹi/.
- What is the plural of belfry?
- The plural of belfry is belfries.
Words near belfry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: belfry (page history and authors); belfry (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); belfry (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); గంటసాల (Telugu) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-belfry.wav.
Cite this entry: “belfry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/belfry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.