chime

Meanings

Plural: chimes

Noun

• a percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned bells that are struck with a hammer; used as an orchestral instrument
• A musical instrument producing a sound when struck, similar to a bell (e.g. a tubular metal bar) or actually a bell. Often used in the plural to refer to the set: the chimes.
• An individual ringing component of such a set.
• A small bell or other ringing or tone-making device as a component of some other device.
• The sound of such an instrument or device.
• A small hammer or other device used to strike a bell.
• Alternative form of chine (“edge of a cask; part of a ship; etc.”).

Verb

• emit a sound
  • "bells and gongs chimed"
• To make the sound of a chime.
• To cause to sound in harmony; to play a tune, as upon a set of bells; to move or strike in harmony.
• To utter harmoniously; to recite rhythmically.
• To agree; to correspond.
• To make a rude correspondence of sounds; to jingle, as in rhyming.

Synonyms

alarm, bell, buzz, buzzer, carillon, clapper, curfew, ding-dong, dinger, glockenspiel, gong, peal, ringer, siren, tintinnabulum, tocsin, toll, vesper