tocsin
[tok-sin]
- a signal, especially of alarm, sounded on a bell or bells.
- a bell used to sound an alarm.
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Origin of tocsin
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tocsin
Contemporary Examples
Come on, stand up, brother, father, toll the tocsin [alarm bell]!
Historical Examples
The tocsin rang impatiently, but other help (if that were any) there was none.
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
Her motto, "Truth for authority and not authority for truth," is still the tocsin of reform.
What priest does not know that tocsin of the night, and the start from peaceful slumbers?
My New CurateP.A. Sheehan
Immediately he dreamt that he heard the tocsin and took part in the events of June, 1848.
DreamsHenri Bergson
Drums can be heard beating the alarm, and the tocsin peals from the churches.
The Gods are AthirstAnatole France
tocsin
- an alarm or warning signal, esp one sounded on a bell
- an alarm bell
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Word Origin
C16: from French, from Old French toquassen, from Old Provençal tocasenh, from tocar to touch + senh bell, from Latin signum
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for tocsin
n.
"alarm bell," 1580s, from Middle French toquassen "an alarm bell, the ringing of an alarm bell" (late 14c.), from Old Provençal tocasenh, from tocar "to strike" (from Vulgar Latin *toccare "strike a bell;" see touch) + senh "bell, bell note," from Late Latin signum "bell, ringing of a bell," in Latin "mark, signal." The current English spelling is from 1794, adopted from modern French.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper