Library / English Dictionary

RINGING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having the character of a loud deep sound; the quality of being resonant

Synonyms:

plangency; resonance; reverberance; ringing; sonority; sonorousness; vibrancy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("ringing" is a kind of...):

quality; timber; timbre; tone ((music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound))

Derivation:

ring (ring or echo with sound)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The giving of a ring as a token of engagement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("ringing" is a kind of...):

betrothal; engagement; troth (a mutual promise to marry)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The sound of a bell ringing

Example:

the tintinnabulation that so voluminously swells from the ringing and the dinging of the bells

Synonyms:

ring; ringing; tintinnabulation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("ringing" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ringing"):

bell ringing (the sound of someone playing a set of bells)

Derivation:

ring (sound loudly and sonorously)

ring (make (bells) ring, often for the purposes of musical edification)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

-ing form of the verb ring

Credits

 Context examples: 

“We must be off for Crawley at once, nephew,” said he, ringing the bell.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The great bell of Beaulieu was ringing.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When I again unclosed my eyes, a loud bell was ringing; the girls were up and dressing; day had not yet begun to dawn, and a rushlight or two burned in the room.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Some cold beef and a glass of beer,” he answered, ringing the bell.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You may also have nausea, ringing in your ears, dizziness, or tiredness.

(Concussion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

It has a distinctive low-pitched, loud-ringing bark.

(Old English Sheepdog, NCI Thesaurus)

He would not tear it down for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This ringing of the plasma bell is what led to the key evidence showing Voyager had entered interstellar space.

(Sun sends more 'tsunami waves' to Voyager 1, NASA)

There is the ten o'clock bell ringing.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In his ears the camp-sounds and cries were ringing loud.

(White Fang, by Jack London)