save by the bell

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English

Pronunciation

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Verb

save by the bell (third-person singular simple present saves by the bell, present participle saving by the bell, simple past and past participle saved by the bell)

  1. (transitive, boxing, wrestling) In a boxing or wrestling match or similar competition, to ring the bell which concludes the round and thereby to prevent a competitor who has been knocked down from being counted out by the referee.
    • 2013 December 30, “Behind The Gloves 2013 Picks!”, in behindthegloves.com, retrieved 22 January 2014:
      With 35 seconds left in the fight, the Siberian Rocky landed a lethal right hook that staggered Bradley and forced him to take a knee following a few more hard blows, thus saving Bradley by the bell.
  2. (transitive, idiomatic, by extension) To rescue or favorably assist (someone) by means of a timely interruption or the sudden termination of difficult circumstances.
    • 1951 April, Charles Bell, "Sea Rescue," Motor Boating, p. 36 (Google preview):
      The waitress brought the coffee about this time, saving me by the bell, as it were.
    • 1954, General Practitioner, volume 10, page 46:
      Fortunately the appearance of the rash marks the beginning of a sudden end to the disease, establishes a diagnosis, saves you by the bell, satisfies the child's parents, and baby has had just one more kind of measles.
    • 1983, Jim Smoke, Every Single Day, →ISBN, page 207:
      Remember that God gives the strength to go on when you would rather collapse. He can save you by the bell!
    • 1991, Elizabeth Gage, Pandora's Box, →ISBN, page 376:
      She felt as though his departure for Europe was saving her by the bell.
    • 2011 Oct. 13, nekobun, "Nekobun's Cblog: There Would've Been Brawl: Let's Keep It Clean," destructoid.com (retrieved 22 Jan 2014):
      Today's entry got to me just in the nick of time. Saving me by the bell is Reilly Campbell.
    • 2011 December 1, Gary J. Borgstede, “The Lord Delivers”, in The Make It Happen Moment, retrieved 22 January 2014:
      [W]hen the Lord delivers me, He saves me, rescues me, comes to my rescue, throws me a life-line; snatches me from the jaws of death, saves me at the last second or minute, rescues me at the eleventh hour, saves me by the bell.

Usage notes

See also