| belles-lettres |
(used with a sing. verb) elegant or polished writing; literature regarded as having an aesthetic function, as distinguished from informative or persuasive writing. |
| bellflower |
one of a group of plants that bear bell-shaped pendant flowers; campanula; harebell. |
| bellhop |
a man or boy who does errands at a hotel; bellboy. |
| bellicose |
easily incited to quarrel or fight; belligerent. [2 definitions] |
| bellied |
having a belly of a particular kind (used in combination). |
| belligerence |
a very aggressive or hostile attitude; warlike nature. [2 definitions] |
| belligerency |
the position or status of a belligerent nation; condition of being at war. [2 definitions] |
| belligerent |
having or showing an eagerness to fight; aggressive; warlike. [4 definitions] |
| bell jar |
a bell-shaped glass cover for a platform, used for displaying and protecting delicate objects. [2 definitions] |
| bellman |
one who carries or rings a bell, such as a town crier. [2 definitions] |
| bellow |
to make the deep, loud cry of a bull. [5 definitions] |
| bellows |
(used with a sing. or pl. verb) a device with a flexible, valved air chamber that can be expanded to draw in air and compressed to expel it through a nozzle, used to blow air on a fire or to sound a musical instrument. [3 definitions] |
| bell pepper |
a pepper plant that bears a mild-flavored edible fruit. [2 definitions] |
| bell-shaped curve |
a graphic representation of a statistically normal frequency distribution, which resembles the outline of a bell; bell curve. |
| bell tower |
a tower housing one or more bells. |
| bellwether |
a male sheep, with a bell hung about its neck, that leads the flock. [2 definitions] |
| belly |
the front or underpart of mammals that contains the stomach and intestines. [5 definitions] |
| bellyache |
an abdominal pain; colic. [3 definitions] |
| bellyband |
a girth or cinch around the belly of an animal, such as the band used to hold a saddle on a horse. |
| bellybutton |
(informal) the navel. |
| belly dance |
an eastern Mediterranean dance performed by women, in which the dancer makes sinuous rhythmic movements of the abdomen. |