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bel

¹

[bel]

|

noun Physics.

a unit of power ratio, equal to 10 decibels.

Origin of bel

¹

First recorded in 1925–30; named after A. G. Bell

bel

²

[bel]

noun

Bel.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bel

Contemporary Examples of bel

I was sitting in this big empty house in Bel Air, with a phone with five extensions which we no longer needed.
Joan Rivers: Our Last Interview
Tim Teeman
September 4, 2014
Brooks: We holed up in the Bel Air Hotel, where Gene was staying, and we acted all the parts out.
Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview
Alex Belth
February 16, 2014
CHERISHED MEMORIES FROM SHOOTING Tim Matheson: We shot near Ronald Reagan's Bel Air home, the Western White House.
‘She’s All That' 15th Anniversary: Cast and Crew Reminisce About the Making of the ‘90s Classic
Marlow Stern
January 29, 2014
I was sitting in his Bel Air home interviewing him and he had some friends over.
More Rich, High-Powered Women Are Turning to Matchmakers to Find Love
Paula Froelich
August 15, 2012
People like to say his office is the back booth at the Bel Air Hotel.
The Conrad Murray Trial That Wasn’t
Amy Ephron
September 29, 2011

Historical Examples of bel

He did not trouble to put on a pretence of indifference with Bel, just as he did not wish to talk about it.
Mary Gray
Katharine Tynan
He appears in this relationship to Bel in the religious texts of Babylonia.
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Morris Jastrow
Sin's secondary position is indicated by making him a son of Bel.
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Morris Jastrow
This is the greeting from Bel Tarbasi and the assembled gods.
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Morris Jastrow
For the 1st day of Elul the second, sacred to Anu and Bel, a favorable day.
The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria
Morris Jastrow

British Dictionary definitions for bel

bel

noun

a unit for comparing two power levels, equal to the logarithm to the base ten of the ratio of the two powersSymbols: B, b See also decibel

Word Origin for bel

C20: named after Alexander Graham Bell

Bel

noun

(in Babylonian and Assyrian mythology) the god of the earth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bel

Bel

heaven-and-earth god of Babylonian religion, from Akkadian Belu, literally "lord, owner, master," cognate with Hebrew ba'al.

adj.

"beautiful," early 14c., from Old French bel, belle "beautiful, fair, fine" (see belle). "Naturalized in ME.; but after 1600 consciously French" [OED].

n.

unit of power level in measuring sound, 1929, named for Scottish-born telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

bel in Medicine

bel

[bĕl]

n.

A unit expressing the relative intensity of a sound, equal to ten decibels.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

bel in Science

bel

[bĕl]

A unit of measurement equal to ten decibels.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.