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Glite Dictionary
ship's bell

ship's bell

8.8
A sound a ship makes every half hour to show the time
  • noun
  • /ʃɪps bɛl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : campana del barco
  • At midnight, the ship's bell heralded the start of a new day with twelve chimes.
  • ship's bell clanged

Examples

  • The ship's bell clanged.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The ship's bell clangs on the hour and half hour, and the bosun's whistle ever pierces the air with its piped orders.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Every half hour, the ship's bell rings to mark the passage of time.

  • The crew listened as the ship's bell chimed, signaling it was four o'clock.

Synonyms

bell
vsship's bell
  • Specialized
42 9.9

One of the rings struck on a ship to show time during a watch

is the same time signal but termed with a possessive nautical name

Surface Forms

ship's bell singular
ship's bells plural

Morphology

ship's + bell

The phrase is compositionally clear — a B1 learner who knows 'ship' and 'bell' can infer it refers to a bell belonging to a ship and likely used on board (for example to signal or mark time). However, the specialized nautical sense (that 'ship's bell' denotes one of the eight half‑hour watch divisions and the conventional system of 'eight bells') is a cultural/technical convention not predictable from the constituents alone, so full understanding requires prior exposure.

Etymology

The term ship's bell comes from the bell on a ship that sailors rang every half hour and counted the rings up to eight to mark the passing of time and the end of a 'watch'. So, a ship's bell means one of those half-hour time marks.