sleigh-bell
[sleigh n.]
a. One of a number of small bells (see quot. 1859) attached to a sleigh or to the harness of a horse drawing it.
| c 1780 in Amer. Poems (1793) I. 208 Mind and have the sleigh-bells sent. 1849 Longfellow Kavanagh xxviii, The chiming sleigh-bells, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 414 Sleigh-bell, a small hollow ball, made of bell-metal, having a slit in it that passes half round its circumference, and containing a small, solid ball of a size not to escape. 1873 B. Harte Fiddletown 50 It was the sound of sleigh-bells. |
b. Used for orchestral purposes.
| 1895 Army & Navy Stores List 1672 Sleigh Bells... Set of 12 on handle for Band or Orchestral use. 1898 Eng. Mechanic 8 July 481 ‘Sleigh-bells’ are generally strung on a wire in ring-form, and fitted with a handle. |
c. sleigh-bell duck, the American black scoter.
| 1888 G. Trumbull Names of Birds 107 In the vicinity of Rangely Lake, Me., this bird is the Sleigh-bell Duck. |