The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments.
A set of bells musically tuned to each other; specif., in the pl., the music performed on such a set of bells by hand, or produced by mechanism to accompany the striking of the hours or their divisions.
Pleasing correspondence of proportion, relation, or sound.
To sound in harmonious accord, as bells.
To be in harmony; to agree; to suit; to harmonize; to correspond; to fall in with.
To make a rude correspondence of sounds; to jingle, as in rhyming.
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.
Early English term was chymme bells, from chymbals, an Anglicization of the Latin cymbala. A set of bells usually numbering up to 16 (but not more than 22) and hung stationary. They are played melodically-occasionally with simple harmony-either by automatic action, from an electric keyboard, or from a chime stand of wooden levers and sometimes pedals. If sounded automatically, the chime may be set off by clock action or by controls which permit designated periods of play. To chime refers to the automatic ringing of the bells of the chime. In England it also refers to the ordinary swinging of a church bell in a limited arc (as opposed to the full circle of 360 degrees for bells in change ringing).
Chiming can take place in a variety of ways, usually by swinging the bell slightly back and forth, and stopping it at the top of the swing to make the clapper hit it. Chiming can also be done by hammers pulled onto the bell.
emit a sound; "bells and gongs chimed"
a group of bells generally understood to consist of at least eight bells
a note lasting a couple of seconds which starts with a bell-like accent and then fades evenly to silence
The bell-like sound made when a clock strikes on the hour, half hour, etc. Two familiar chimes traditionally found in clocks are the Westminster chime made by the famous Big Ben in London, and the bim bam, a two note chime.
Chime is an old term used among Macintosh computer user circles to describe the single note or chord (depending on model type) played when a Macintosh computer is turned on. The sound indicates that diagnostic tests run immediately at start-up have found no hardware or fundamental software problems, and is accompanied by a Happy Mac icon on the screen.
A carillon-like instrument with less than 23 bells is called a chime.