sheep-bell

Noun

sheep-bell (countable and uncountable, plural sheep-bells)

1. A bell attached to a collar worn by sheep.
   • So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality—the grass would be only rustling in the wind, and the pool rippling to the waving of the reeds—the rattling teacups would change to tinkling...1865, Lewis Carroll, chapter 12, in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
   • The narrow street of Lestampes stood full of sheep, from wall to wall—black sheep and white, bleating with one accord like the birds in spring, and each one accompanying himself upon the sheep-bell round his neck. It made a pathetic concert, all in treble.1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Across the Goulet”, in Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes