a device for producing a strong current of air, consisting of a chamber that can be expanded to draw in air through a valve and contracted to expel it through a tube.
anything resembling or suggesting bellows in form, as the collapsible part of a camera or enlarger.
the lungs.
Also called: pair of bellows. an instrument consisting of an air chamber with flexible sides or end, a means of compressing it, an inlet valve, and a constricted outlet that is used to create a stream of air, as for producing a draught for a fire or for sounding organ pipes
photog a telescopic light-tight sleeve, connecting the lens system of some cameras to the body of the instrument
a flexible corrugated element used as an expansion joint, pump, or means of transmitting axial motion
before 900; Middle English bel(o ) wes (plural), Old English belg, short for blǣst belg, plural belgas blast-bag; cognate with Dutch blaasbalg, German Blasebalg, Old Norse belgr. See belly
A bellows is a bag-like device with handles that's used to blow air onto a fire to keep the flame burning. If you have a fireplace in your house, you might have a bellows too. The kind of bellows that provides extra oxygen to a dwindling fire is similar to other types of bellows: they all involve a bag of air. Various instruments use a bellows, to provide a constant flow of air. Accordions, some organs, and bagpipes all have this kind of bellows. In the 13th century, the word was belwes, literally "bags," from the Old English belg, "bag or purse."
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He charms the staff with his knowledge of these obscure machines – pointing out the bellows that power a church organ, and the pneumatic underpinnings of a piano roll player.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
It’s 6 a.m., and he bellows for me.
From Slate • May 10, 2026
“Joyful bellows from the fans,” the Chicago Tribune reported the next morning, “drowned out the final horn.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
Trombones bleat, a tuba bellows, drums are the heart.
From Salon • Nov. 8, 2025
How many bellows would they ever have to ask for?
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
