[f. SOUL sb.] The passing-bell. Also fig.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Wks. (Grosart), V. 214. The … Bishop of Norwich … meant not to forsake them till the soule Bell towld them thence.
a. 1603. T. Cartwright, Confut. Rhem. N. T. (1618), 394. It is as it were the soule-bell of your Priestly and un-virginly virginity.
1610. Bp. Hall, Apol. Brownists, xliv. 107. We call them soule-bels, for that they signifie the departure of the soule.
1725. Bourne, in Brand, Pop. Antiq. (1777), i. 1. Of the Soul-Bell, its Antiquity, the Reason of its Institution.
1777. Brand, Ibid. 18. Distinction of Rank is preserved here in the tolling of the Soul-Bell.
1893. Tablet, 27 May, 819. The great Soul Bell of St. Swithun’s was sobbing in the winter wind for the death of the bishop.
1906. J. J. Raven, Bells, 112. Persons recovered after their soul bell had sounded.
