20 December 2017

knell

[nel]

noun

1. the sound made by a bell rung slowly, especially for a death or a funeral.
2. a sound or sign announcing the death of a person or the end, extinction, failure, etc., of something:
the knell of parting day.
3. any mournful sound.
verb (used without object)
4. to sound, as a bell, especially a funeral bell.
5. to give forth a mournful, ominous, or warning sound.
verb (used with object)
6. to proclaim or summon by, or as if by, a bell.

Origin of knell

Middle English Old English

950 before 950; (noun) Middle English knel, Old English cynll; (v.) Middle English knellen, knyllen, Old English cynllan; cognate with Old Norse knylla to beat, strike; akin to Dutch knal bang, knallen to bang, German Knall explosion, knallen to explode

Related forms

unknelled, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for knell

Historical Examples

The signs, which certainly did look like signs of guilt, struck a knell on the heart of his father.
The Channings
Mrs. Henry Wood

Still that word, which rang like a knell in his dazed brain!
The Fortune of the Rougons
Emile Zola

It sounded the knell of all hope of redress of their wrongs.
Scaramouche
Rafael Sabatini

Today’s quote

What being a socialist means is… that you hold out… a vision of society where poverty is absolutely unnecessary, where international relations are not based on greed… but on cooperation… where human beings can own the means of production and work together rather than having to work as semi-slaves to other people who can hire and fire.

– Bernie Sanders

On this day

20 December – International Human Solidarity Day – celebrating unity in diversity, as well as reminding people of the importance of solidarity in working towards eradicating poverty.

20 December 1973 – Basque Nationalists kill Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco in a car-bombing in Madrid.

20 December 1989 – Operation ‘Just Cause’ in which President George Bush orders 27,684 U.S. troops into Panama in an effort to oust Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Noriega surrendered on 3 January 1990.