save by the bell | Idiomator

Meaning: (transitive,boxing,wrestling)In aboxingorwrestlingmatchor similarcompetition, to ring the bell which concludes theroundand thereby topreventa competitor who has been knocked down from beingcounted outby thereferee.2013December 30, “Behind The Gloves 2013 Picks!”, inbehindthegloves.com, retrieved22 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, thussaving Bradley by the bell.; (transitive,idiomatic,by extension)Torescueor favorablyassist(someone) by means of atimelyinterruptionor the suddenterminationofdifficultcircumstances.1951April, 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, volume10,page46: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,page207:Remember that God gives the strength to go on when you would rather collapse. He cansave you by the bell!1991, Elizabeth Gage,Pandora's Box,→ISBN,page376:She felt as though his departure for Europe wassaving her by the bell.2011Oct. 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 bellis Reilly Campbell.2011December 1, Gary J. Borgstede, “The Lord Delivers”, inThe Make It Happen Moment, retrieved22 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.

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