bellows

The bellows for a church organ

English

Pronunciation

Wikipedia

Hand bellows

• (US) IPA: /ˈbɛloz/, X-SAMPA: /"bEloz/
• (UK) IPA: /ˈbɛl.əʊz/, X-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) (duhalo) n pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 風箱 (cmn), 风箱 (cmn) (fēngxiāng)

• 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
• Japanese: 鞴 (ja) (ふいご, fuigo)
• Korean: 풀무 (ko) (pulmu)
• Latvian: plēšas (lv) pl
• Norwegian: blåsebelg (no) n
• Old Irish: bolg m and f
• Russian: меха (ru) (mexá) m pl, мехи (ru) (mexí) m pl
• 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