Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use bellows in a sentence

19 example sentences · noun, verb

Bellows means 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. Example: “When wood fires were common, so were bellows for helping start them.”

Examples of bellows by meaning

nounA device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. At its most simple terms a...

  • When wood fires were common, so were bellows for helping start them.
  • And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

verbTo operate a bellows; to direct air at (something) using a bellows.

  • We’re both exiles, aren’t we?’ He bellowsed the end red again and continued, delicate as a musician, his scoring.1966, Anthony Burgess, Tremor of Intent: An Eschatological Spy Novel, New York: Norton, Part 3, Chapter 6, p. 173
  • This is a capricious devil, the furnace, though I say it myself, and it wants regular bellowsing.1999, Ferdinand Mount, chapter 10, in Jem (and Sam), New York: Carroll & Graf, page 397

verbTo expand and contract like a bellows.

  • The pony still lay on his side and the wound in his throat bellowsed in and out.1933, John Steinbeck, chapter 1, in The Red Pony, New York: Viking, published 1945, page 48
  • 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.1978, Stephen King, chapter 25, in The Stand, New York: Random House, published 2012, page 196
  • His chest bellowsed and he opened his mouth to display a horseshoe of gold molars.1998, Loren D. Estleman, chapter 6, in Jitterbug, New York: Tom Doherty Associates, page 53

verbTo fold up like a bellows; to accordion.

  • The ankle should be supple as a stocking, and “bellowsed” to make sure of suppleness.1916, Roger Pocock, chapter 6, in Horses, 2nd edition, London: John Murray, published 1917, pages 170–171

More sentences with bellows

  • An evacuated bellows and mechanical linkage operates an aneroid barometer.From the entry aneroid
  • Ragged embers, horn of an anvil, hovering bellows, a tongs of function and capernosity.2008, Tom MacIntyre, Find the Lady, page 18. From the entry capernosity
  • The brackets attaching the fire chamber to the bellows are made from castiron.1995, Paul Jackson, Smoking Allowed: A Pictorial Past of Honey Bee Smokers in the United States, A.I. Root Company, published 1995, →ISBN…. From the entry castiron
  • The smokeblower is a small bellows attached to a fire chamber.1975, John Vivian, The Manual of Practical Homesteading, page 45. From the entry smokeblower
  • This is a small reed-free organ with no keys that has small bellows pumped by hand to produce the drone sound.2010, Deborah Lock, editor, Children's Book of Music, Dorling Kindersley Limited, →ISBN, page 33. From the entry surpeti
  • Almost no singer in rock enunciates better, and he used that skill to make noise: teeth-and-tongue clucking, gut-punch bellows, hair-on-fire shrieking.2003 September 9, Ben Ratliff, “Music Review: Fluttering Rat-a-tats to Celebrate a Birthday”, in New York Times, retrieved 22 Sep 2017. From the entry hair-on-fire
  • He burst into the sitting-room, covered with meal and panting like a bellowsed horse, frightening my grandmother almost into hysterics.1944, “The Grist Mill”, in Benjamin A. Botkin, editor, A Treasury of American Folklore, New York: Crown Publishers, page 411. From the entry bellowsed
  • And now most of our warriors have forgotten us, and the frickle nation bellows: 'Long live King Absalom!'1935, Saul Saphire, Lew Earl Winburg, A Tale of Two Kings, page 330. From the entry frickle
  • That is why players prefer to play the diple with bellows, because the bellows makes it possible for them to play continuously.2014, Jasmina Talam, Folk Musical Instruments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, page 190. From the entry diple
  • Uilleann bagpipes in Ireland differ from Scottish pipes in that the uilleann piper uses bellows under the arm to keep the bag full rather than blowing into the bag.2008, Jo Sprague, Douglas Stuart, David Bodary, The Speaker's Handbook, page 157. From the entry uilleann piper
  • Blast was produced by bellows worked by four 'blowers', three of whom worked at a time while the fourth stood ready to replace one of the others.1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 146. From the entry blast

Meaning of bellows

  1. noun 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.
  2. noun Any flexible container or enclosure, as one used to cover a moving joint.
  3. noun The lungs.

Full definition of bellows

Questions about bellows in a sentence

How do you use bellows in a sentence?
Bellows is used as a noun and verb. For example: “When wood fires were common, so were bellows for helping start them.”
What is a short sentence with bellows?
“An evacuated bellows and mechanical linkage operates an aneroid barometer.”
What does bellows mean?
Bellows means 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.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bellows (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use bellows in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/bellows. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.