bellow

• beller (US, dialectal)

From Middle English belwen, from Old English belgan, bylgan (“to become angry, to swell with rage”), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”), whence also belg (“leather bag”), bellan (“to roar”), blāwan (“to blow”). Cognate with German bellen (“to bark”), Russian бле́ять (bléjatʹ, “baa, bleat”).

Compare billow (“wave”), of the same root, also bulge, with related etymology to swelling. Potentially related to bawl, Swedish böl (“bawl”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛloʊ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛləʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɛləʊ

• Audio (US):

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bellow (plural bellows)

1. The deep roar of a large animal, or any similar loud noise.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     There was a tap at a door, a bull's bellow from within, and I was face to face with the Professor.

bellow (third-person singular simple present bellows, present participle bellowing, simple past and past participle bellowed)

1. To make a loud, deep, hollow noise like the roar of an angry bull.
   • 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     the bellowing voice of boiling seas

2. To shout in a deep voice.
   • 2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Then, as the Sunderland fans' cheers bellowed around the stadium, United's title bid was over when it became apparent City had pinched a last-gasp winner to seal their first title in 44 years.