Bellows

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Bellows \Bel"lows\, n. sing. & pl. [OE. bely, below, belly,
     bellows, AS. b[ae]lg, b[ae]lig, bag, bellows, belly. Bellows
     is prop. a pl. and the orig. sense is bag. See {Belly}.]
     An instrument, utensil, or machine, which, by alternate
     expansion and contraction, or by rise and fall of the top,
     draws in air through a valve and expels it through a tube for


     various purposes, as blowing fires, ventilating mines, or
     filling the pipes of an organ with wind.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Bellows camera}, in photography, a form of camera, which can
        be drawn out like an accordion or bellows.
  
     {Hydrostatic bellows}. See {Hydrostatic}.
  
     {A pair of bellows}, the ordinary household instrument for
        blowing fires, consisting of two nearly heart-shaped
        boards with handles, connected by leather, and having a
        valve and tube.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  bellows
       n : a mechanical device that blows air onto a fire to make it
           burn more fiercely [syn: {blower}]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Bellows
     occurs only in Jer. 6:29, in relation to the casting of metal.
     Probably they consisted of leather bags similar to those common
     in Egypt.