night bell
- noun
:
timbre nocturno
- The blonde was still at the desk, and when Paul rang the night bell, she came to the door and let him in.
Examples
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Suddenly, the night bell rang.
Fiction book (2001) -
He installed a night bell outside his home to ensure he wouldn't miss late-night deliveries.
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As she was sleeping, the night bell rang, waking her up to a visitor.
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When the night bell chimed, she knew someone had arrived at the door after hours.
Synonyms
144
1.0
A button by the front door that rings when someone presses it to tell you a visitor is there
89
1.0
A device that makes a sound to get someone's attention
How Loud
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'night bell' is a straightforward combination of 'night' (the nighttime period) and 'bell' (a signaling device), so its meaning — a bell used or intended for nighttime use — is directly inferable from the parts. This noun-noun compounding follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern, making it readily understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Night bell comes from the simple scene of a small bell hung by a door to be rung after dark at night. When someone rings it, it wakes or alerts the people inside, so the phrase now means 'a doorbell to use at night'.