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Fine Dictionary

knell

nɛl
WordNet
  1. (v) knell
    make (bells) ring, often for the purposes of musical edification "Ring the bells","My uncle rings every Sunday at the local church"
  2. (v) knell
    ring as in announcing death
  3. (n) knell
    the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a funeral or the end of something
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  1. Knell
    The stroke of a bell tolled at a funeral or at the death of a person; a death signal; a passing bell; "The dead man's knell Is there scarce asked for who.", "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day."
  2. Knell
    To summon, as by a knell. "Each matin bell, the baron saith, Knells us back to a world of death."
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. knell
    To strike; knock.
  2. knell
    To toll, as a bell; ring for or at a funeral; knoll.
  3. knell
    To summon by or as if by a knell.
  4. knell
    To sound, as a bell, especially as a funeral bell.
  5. knell
    Hence To sound as an omen or a warning of coming evil.
  6. (n) knell
    The sound caused by striking a bell; especially, the sound of a bell rung with solemn slowness at or for a funeral; a passing-bell.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (n) Knell
    nel the stroke of a bell: the sound of a bell at a death or funeral
  2. (v.i) Knell
    to sound as a bell: toll
  3. (v.t) Knell
    to summon as by a tolling bell
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary OE. knel, cnul, AS. cnyll, fr. cnyllan, to sound a bell; cf. D. & G. knallen, to clap, crack, G. & Sw. knall, a clap, crack, loud sound, Dan. knalde, to clap, crack. Cf. Knoll n. & v.,

Usage in the news

In Siberia, the Death Knell of a Complex Holding a Deadly Stockpile. nytimes.com

Death Knell for Catholic Radio. ncregister.com

Anti-Growth Initiatives Sound Death Knell for Builders. housingzone.com

Dessert can sometimes be the death knell for wine at dinner, especially for fans of dry red and white wines. okgazette.com

NPR's New Boss Gary Knell . usf.usf.edu

Gary Knell , new President and CEO of NPR, says that member stations will remain an integral part of the system, even as more people get NPR's content from mobile phones and computers. usf.usf.edu

Knell moved into his new job on Dec 1, after 11 years as the president and CEO of Sesame Workshop. usf.usf.edu

NPR CEO Gary Knell 's First Day At Work. kazu.org

Incoming NPR CEO and President Gary Knell . kenw.org

Gary Knell , president and CEO of Sesame Workshop – producers of the Sesame Street educational children's TV show — has been named the new CEO and president of NPR. kccu.org

Knell has been a Wells Fargo team member for seven years, serving as personal banker, store manager and sales development consultant leading Alaska's in-store private banking team. homernews.com

Still more (unwarranted) death knells for the personal computer . mactech.com

Sounding the death knell for higher education. cta.org

CANNON , CHRISTOPHER KNELL 12-10864. standard.net

CANNON , CHRISTOPHER KNELL. standard.net

Usage in literature

The news that Burns was dead, sounded through all Scotland like a knell announcing a great national bereavement. "Robert Burns" by Principal Shairp

On reaching the gate of the city they heard a peal of bells solemnly tolling forth a funeral knell. "The Seven Champions of Christendom" by W. H. G. Kingston

It was the death-knell to thousands of the inhabitants. "True Blue" by W.H.G. Kingston

Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell! "The King's Own" by Captain Frederick Marryat

It sounded the death-knell of the gang. "Children of the Tenements" by Jacob A. Riis

The word is like a knell. "Gallipoli Diary, Volume 2" by Ian Hamilton

Ere the sound your funeral knell rings. "The Liberty Minstrel" by George W. Clark

If we continue to succeed, our lesson to the world is the death-knell of monarchy and imperial power. "Mysticism and its Results" by John Delafield

One knell be rung for both; and let one grave To hold us two an endless honour have. "The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2" by Robert Herrick

Pibroch of Donuil Dhu Knell for the onset! "The Ontario High School Reader" by A.E. Marty

Usage in poetry
I hear the loved survivors tell
How nought from death could save,
Till every sound appears a knell,
And every spot a grave.
But sudden there came a cloud,
Out rung a nation's knell;
Our cause was wrapped in its winding shroud,
All fell when the great Lee fell.
So heard I myriad heart-beats blend
Into one mighty changeless knell,
The throb-song of the silent hell:
No end, no change; no change no end.
Then his airms gaed up an' his airms gaed doon,
As if ringin' that unseen bell,
An' reider the licht grew within his een
As he heard that awfu' knell.
She leev't tae see the promist lan'—
The icy waves that lash the stran'
Of great St Lawrence rung her knell—
Rest, rest in peace, dear Cousin Bell.
'Tis hush'd again ! and the swell is past,
The clock's dull knell at two !
But the hour is to come that seals her doom,
And the lamps are burning blue !