sheep bell
- noun
:
campana de oveja
- The sheep bell jingled softly as the animal grazed in the meadow.
Examples
-
Then Lucilla heard water splashing, as though from a fountain, and the distant, gentle clangor of sheep bells.
Fiction book (1990) -
Only the ash of water from that unseen fountain, the tinkle of sheep bells.
Fiction book (1990) -
The farmhand listened for the sheep bell to find the flock in the tall grass.
-
As the herd wandered, the sound of the sheep bell helped the shepherd keep track of them.
How Loud
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a bell attached around the neck of a sheep' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'sheep' (the animal) with 'bell' (a ringing object); the compound denotes a bell used for a sheep. This straightforward noun–noun composition is a common, productive pattern in English (and cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Sheep bell is a small bell hung on a sheep's neck so the animal makes noise when it moves. Because the ringing helps the farmer 'find' the sheep, the phrase now means a bell used to locate a sheep.