Meaning

noun a very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal)

noun United States author (born in Canada) whose novels influenced American literature after World War II (1915-2005)

verb shout loudly and without restraint

originFrom Middle English belwen, from Old English belgan, bylgan (“to become angry, to swell with rage”), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”), whence also belg (“leather bag”), bellan (“to roar”), blāwan (“to blow”). Cognate with German bellen (“to bark”), Russian бле́ять (bléjatʹ, “baa, bleat”). Compare billow (“wave”), of the same root, also bulge, with related…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0