Chime (chīm), n. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. κύμβαλον. See Cymbal.] 1. The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments.
Instruments that made melodius chime.
Milton.
2. A set of bells musically tuned to each other; specif., in the pl., the music performed on such a set of bells by hand, or produced by mechanism to accompany the striking of the hours or their divisions.
We have heard the chimes at midnight.
Shak.
3. Pleasing correspondence of proportion, relation, or sound. “Chimes of verse.” Cowley.