Meaning of save by the bell | Babel Free

Definitions

1. 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.
   transitive
2. To rescue or favorably assist (someone) by means of a timely interruption or the sudden termination of difficult circumstances.
   broadly, idiomatic, transitive

Examples

“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.”

“The waitress brought the coffee about this time, saving me by the bell, as it were.”

“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.”

“Remember⟳ that God gives the strength to go on when you would rather collapse. He can save⟳ you by the bell!”

“She felt as though his departure for Europe was saving her by the bell.”

“Today's entry got to me just in the nick of time. Saving me by the bell is Reilly Campbell.”

“[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.”

CEFR level