From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Knell \Knell\, v. t.
To summon, as by a knell.
[1913 Webster]
Each matin bell, the baron saith,
Knells us back to a world of death. --Coleridge.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Knell \Knell\, n. [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.]
The stroke of a bell tolled at a funeral or at the death of a
person; a death signal; a passing bell; hence,
(figuratively), a warning or harbinger of, or a sound
indicating, the passing away of anything; -- also called
{death knell}.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
The dead man's knell
Is there scarce asked for who. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. --Gray.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Knell \Knell\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Knelled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Knelling}.] [OE. knellen, knillen, As. cnyllan. See {Knell},
n.]
To sound as a knell; especially, to toll at a death or
funeral; hence, to sound as a warning or evil omen.
[1913 Webster]
Not worth a blessing nor a bell to knell for thee.
--Beau. & Fl.
[1913 Webster]
Yet all that poets sing, and grief hath known,
Of hopes laid waste, knells in that word, "alone".
--Ld. Lytton.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
knell
n 1: the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a
funeral or the end of something
v 1: ring as in announcing death
2: make (bells) ring, often for the purposes of musical
edification; "Ring the bells"; "My uncle rings every Sunday
at the local church" [syn: {ring}, {knell}]
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