noun
- a set of stationary bells hung in a tower and sounded by manual or pedal action, or by machinery.
- a set of horizontal metal plates, struck by hammers, used in the modern orchestra.
noun music
- a set of bells usually hung in a tower and played either by keys and pedals or mechanically
- a tune played on such bells
- an organ stop giving the effect of a bell
- a form of celesta or keyboard glockenspiel
verb -lons, -lonning or -lonned
- (intr) to play a carillon
1775, from French carillon, which, according to French sources, is from Old French carignon “set of four bells,” an alteration of quarregon, from Vulgar Latin *quadrinionem, from Latin quaternionem “set of four,” from quater “four times,” from PIE *kwetrus, from root *kwetwer- “four” (see four).