dressing-bell

English

Noun

dressing-bell (plural dressing-bells)

1. A bell rung to alert people that it is time to get dressed, especially for dinner.
   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter III, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 78:

     The sound of the dressing-bell dispersed the party. It was not till after dinner that I saw him again: he then seemed quite at his ease.

   • 1868 January 4 – June 6, [William] Wilkie Collins, “First Period. The Loss of the Diamond (1848). […]”, in The Moonstone. A Romance. […], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1868, →OCLC, chapter VII, page 91:

     The evening came, and the dressing-bell for dinner rang, before Mr. Franklin returned from Frizinghall.

   • 1901, Gabrielle E. Jackson, Caps and Capers:

     All turned to with more ardor than skill, and in a very few moments the conglomeration upon the floor had vanished. How it fared with Ruth and Edith when it came time to dress has never been disclosed. However, the room restored to outward order, twelve girls set to work to fashion caps and masks, and, as the last one was completed, the dressing-bell rang and all scattered to prepare for dinner.