belfry
/ˈbɛlfri
/noun (plural belfries)
1The part of a bell tower or steeple in which bells are housed.Constant ringing for 230 years had taken its toll on the belfry and bells....
- I entered this gigantic granite jewel, which is as light in its effect as a bit of lace and is covered with towers, with slender belfries to which spiral staircases ascend.
- I imagined we would be going to some creepy old house with bats in the belfry and stone gremlins on the gateposts.
1.1A bell tower or steeple housing bells.The palace chapel had porcelain bells in the wooden belfry and large porcelain figures of the apostles....
- The belfry and short spire were added about 1200.
- The last rang in my ears like a bell's dying toll from a belfry.
Origin
Middle English berfrey, from Old French berfrei, later belfrei, of West Germanic origin. The change in the first syllable was due to association with bell1.