† soul-knelln.
Obsolete.
The knell rung or tolled at or after the death of a person. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > obsequies > [noun] > bell > knell, peal, or stroke
knellc961
soul-knell?a1300
soul-knoll?c1500
death knell1773
dumb peal1799
teller1868
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > playing instruments > bell-ringing > [noun] > mourning
soul-knell?a1300
soul-knoll?c1500
minning1524
dumb peal1799
?a1300 Fox & Wolf 251 in G. H. McKnight Middle Eng. Humorous Tales (1913) 35 (MED) Þi soule-cnul ich wille do ringe, And masse for þine soule singe.
c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. l. 5796 Thei myȝt haue rongen here soule-knylle... Thei hadde dyed for-sothe both, Ne hadde y-come Ayax.
1575 G. Gascoigne Posies Ep. Yng. Gent., in Wks. (1907) I. 11 That the Soulknill [sc. a poem] of M. Edwards was also written in extremitie of sicknesse.
?c1600 (c1515) Sc. Field (Lyme) 411 in I. F. Baird Poems Stanley Family (D.Phil. thesis, Univ. of Birm.) (1990) 247 I will singe him a soulekn[ell] with the sound of my gunnes.
1618 T. Adams Happines of Church i. 329 Now he starts vp on the hearing of this Soule-knell.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.?a1300