Language: en
Meaning: (boxing,wrestling,of a competitor)In aboxingorwrestlingmatchor similarcompetition,sparedfrom beingcounted outby therefereeby the ringing of the bell which concludes theround.2002July 19, Damon Hack, “Boxing: Despite Not Having the Title, Mosley Garners Attention”, inNew York Times, retrieved6 January 2014:Forrest floored Mosley again at the end of the round and almost finished him, but Mosley wassaved by the bell.; (idiomatic,by extension)Rescuedor favorablyassistedby atimelyinterruptionor by the suddenterminationofdifficultcircumstances.1988,Patrick Seale, Maureen McConville,Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East,→ISBN,page248:So Asad's probing created a problem. . . . In a real sense Kissinger wassaved by the bell: the American party had that afternoon to catch a plane to Israel.1997,John Howard Yoder,For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public,→ISBN,page130:The Montgomery bus boycott was "saved by the bell" of a federal Supreme Court decision that came just before the last minute.2001April 17, David M. Halbfinger, “New Jersey's Acting Governor Was Faulted on Ethics in 1998”, inNew York Times, retrieved6 January 2014:But in 1998, Mr. DiFrancesco never answered the allegations against him to the satisfaction of town officials. Instead, he wassaved by the bell, in a way: In a rare electoral upset, Democrats took control of the Township Council in November 1998. They immediately fired Mr. DiFrancesco and replaced him with a Democrat, giving his termination the appearance of simple partisan politics.
Validation Count: 0
Sourced from Wiktionary