save by the bell

present singular third person saves by the bell · participle present saving by the bell · participle past saved by the bell · past saved by the bell

1. transitiveboxingIn 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.

   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.

   2013 December 30, “Behind The Gloves 2013 Picks!”, in Behind the Gloves, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2016, retrieved 22 Jan 2014

2. broadlyidiomatictransitiveTo rescue or favorably assist (someone) by means of a timely interruption or the sudden termination of difficult circumstances.

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

   1991, Elizabeth Gage, Pandora's Box, →ISBN, page 376

   5 more examples

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

   1951 April, Charles Bell, "Sea Rescue," Motor Boating, p. 36 (Google preview)

   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.

   1954, General Practitioner, volume 10, page 46

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

   1983, Jim Smoke, Every Single Day, →ISBN, page 207

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

   2011 October 13, nekobun, “Nekobun's Cblog: There Would've Been Brawl: Let's Keep It Clean”, in Destructoid, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2016, retrieved 22 Jan 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.

   2011 December 1, Gary J. Borgstede, “The Lord Delivers”, in The Make It Happen Moment, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2022, retrieved 22 Jan 2014