chime

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.

Examples

• "Chimes sing Sunday morn."
• "Hugo had a recording of someone playing the chimes against a background of surf noise that she found calming."
• "I got up for lunch as soon as the wall clock began chiming noon."
• "Peter removed the C♯ chime from its mounting so that he could get at the dust that had accumulated underneath."
• "Strike the bell with the brass chime hanging on the chain next to it."
• "Sylvia was a chime player in the school orchestra."
• "The copier gave a chime to indicate that it had finished printing."
• "The microwave chimed to indicate that it was done cooking."
• "The other lab's results chimed with mine, so I knew we were on the right track with the research."
• "The professor had stuffed a wad of gum into the chime of his doorbell so that he wouldn't be bothered."

Synonyms

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