save by the bell

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

• Almost always used in the past participial form: saved by the bell.

See also

• down for the count