belfry

1 a bell tower; usually stands alone unattached to a building [syn: campanile]

2 a room (often at the top of a tower) where bells are hung

English

Etymology

From Old French berfrey ( > French beffroi), from late Latin berefredus, borrowed from Germanic *bergfrid. The word later changed by assimilation with bell.

Pronunciation

• , /ˈbɛlfri/, /"bElfri/

Noun

1. A moveable tower used in sieges.
2. In the context of "dialectal}} A shed.

The term belfry has a variety of uses:

• Bell tower, an architectural term
• Belfry, a type of medieval siege tower
• Belfry, Montana, a town in the United States
• The Belfry, an English golf club
• Belfry, a play by Billy Roche, third part of The Wexford Trilogy, first staged at the Bush Theatre in November 1991
• A black thrashed Metal Band from Duesseldorf/Germany

See also

• Belfries of Belgium and France, in historic Flanders

antenna tower, barbican, bean, bell tower, campanile, carillon, colossus, column, conk, cupola, derrick, dome, fire tower, head, headpiece, lantern, lighthouse, martello, martello tower, mast, minaret, monument, noddle, noggin, noodle, obelisk, observation tower, pagoda, pilaster, pillar, pinnacle, pole, poll, pylon, pyramid, shaft, skyscraper, spire, standpipe, steeple, stupa, television mast, tope, tour, tower, turret, water tower, windmill tower