bellows

The bellows for a church organ

English

Pronunciation

Wikipedia

Hand bellows

• (US) IPA: /ˈbɛloz/, SAMPA: /"bEloz/
• (UK) IPA: /ˈbɛl.əʊz/, SAMPA: /"bEl.@Uz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛləʊz

Etymology 1

From Middle English belwes, plural of belu, belw, a northern form of beli, from Old English belg

Noun

bellows

1. 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. Any flexible container or enclosure, as one used to cover a moving joint.
3. (informal or archaic) The lungs.
4. (photography) Flexible, light-tight enclosures connecting the lensboard and the camera back.

Usage notes

• "Bellows" is used with both singular and plural verbs. One can even find "A bellows is/was".

Related terms

• belly
• blow

Translations

air blower

Afrikaans: blaasbalk (af) Bulgarian: духало (bg) Mandarin 风箱 Czech: měch (cs) m. Dutch: blaasbalg (nl) Finnish: palkeet (fi) pl. French: soufflet (fr) m. German: Blasebalg (de) m. Icelandic: físir (is) m., físar (is) m. pl., físibelgur (is) m., físibelgir (is) m. pl.

Italian: soffietto (it) m. Korean: 풀무 (ko) (pulmu) Latvian: plēšas (lv) pl. Norwegian: blåsebelg (no) n. Old Irish: bolg m. and f. Spanish: fuelle (es) Swedish: blåsbälg (sv) c. Turkish: körük (tr)

any flexible container or enclosure

Czech: vlnovec (cs) m.

Finnish: palje (fi)

informal: lungs

This table is for colloquial terms meaning "lungs". For other terms, see: lung

Finnish: palkeet (fi) pl.

Etymology 2

See bellow

Noun

bellows

1. Plural form of bellow.

Verb

bellows

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of bellow.

Anagrams

• Boswell