Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BEL'FRY, n. [Fr. befroy; barb. L. belfredus.]

1. Among military writers of the middle age, a tower erected by besiegers to overlook the place besieged, in which sentinels were placed to watch the avenues, and to prevent surprise from parties of the enemy, or to give notice of fires, by ringing a bell. – Encyc.
2. That part of a steeple, or other building, in which a bell is hung, and more particularly, the timber work which sustains it. – Encyc.