▪ I. belling, vbl. n.1
(ˈbɛlɪŋ)
[f. bell v.4 + -ing1.]
† 1. The roaring of animals; bellowing. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 30 Bellynge, of [? or] rorynge of bestys (v.r. bellinge of nete), mugitus. |
2. spec. The cry of deer in the rutting season; hence ellipt. the season itself. Occas. attrib.
| 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 68 The meik hartis in belling oft ar found Mak feirs bargane. c 1560 A. Scott Adv. Wanton Wowaris, As bukkis in belling tyme. 1858 Lytton What will he do? v. iv (D.) A melancholy belling note like the belling itself of a melancholy hart. |
† 3. Crying, roaring of human beings. Obs.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 68 With mournful belling I namde expreslye Creüsa. |
▪ II. belling, vbl. n.
in sense of bell v.1, v.2, v.3, v.5: see these.
▪ III. belling, ppl. a.
(ˈbɛlɪŋ)
[f. bell v.4 + -ing2.]
† 1. gen. Roaring, bellowing. Obs.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 92 Loud the lowbye brayed with belling monsterus eccho. Ibid. iv. 120 With belling skrichcrye she roareth. |
2. spec. Uttering the cry of deer in rutting-time.
| 1650 Fuller Pisgah iii. ix. 338 Here..the belling Roes [are said] to bed. |