Lisa Turtle is returning to Bayside! Peacock announced on Thursday that Lark Voorhies will make a special appearance in its upcoming reimagining of Saved by the Bell.Voorhies starred on the series. Saved by the bell means to escape catastrophe through a last-minute intervention. The phrase saved by the bell is derived from the sport of boxing. When a boxer is knocked to the ground, he must get back to his feet before the referee counts to ten or the victory will be awarded to his opponent.
Billy: Wow, that was close. Just when I thought the cops would see us, they got distracted by the sound of the bell on Margo’s cat’s collar.
Tom: Yeah, we were saved by the bell. Literally.
The idiom saved by the bell expresses the idea that someone or something is rescued from a dire outcome by a timely occurrence, generally speaking, at the last possible moment, i.e., in the nick of time. A close shave.
Origin
Saved by the bell originated from attempts starting in mid-19th century England to more fully develop and codify rules governing boxing matches.
Ham Fisher’s Joe Palooka was a leading American comic strip in the 1930s’ 40s’ and 50s’ and it also became a movie, radio and TV series. Shamrock games online. Above, the beloved blonde boxer takes a rare knockout punch …
… and in just two panels illustrates what the expression saved by the bell was originally all about, and why the phrase still resonates even though the sport of boxing has become increasingly unpopular.
Most familiar, as well as most significant of these efforts to regulate boxing were the Marquess of Queensberry rules, which among other things specified that fight matches consist of three-minute rounds, each separated by one-minute breaks.
In the course of a round, a boxer who receives a knockout blow is said to be down for the count. If the fighter is unable to regain his footing during the count, which lasts 10 seconds, he or she is declared “out” by the referee, thereby losing the match.
However, if the ringside bell signaling the end of the round sounds before the count is over, the fighter is said to be saved by the bell.
According to the good people at The Phrase Finder, which is pretty much the gold standard for information regarding idioms, the expression saved by the bell was probably in use by the later part of the 1800s, with its earliest print appearance occurring in 1893 in the Massachusetts newspaper, The Fitchburg Daily Sentinel, in relation to a prizefight. Soon thereafter, saved by the bell started being used to describe just about any kind of close call.
Two other origin stories for saved by the bell continue to surface on the web, one tale colorful (and creepy!), the other related to everyone’s school-day memories. While both have an air of what Steve Colbert refers to as “truthiness” about them, both accounts fit into the category of folk etymology, or something like that.
Saved By The Bell Catch Phrases In Writing
Inhumation précipitée, Dragon heart game. painted in 1854 by Antoine Joseph Wiertz depicts a cholera victim awakening after being placed in a coffin, and can be viewed as illustration of “taphephobia” – the fear of being buried alive. Notables such as Lord Chesterfield, George Washington and Frederic Chopin all laid claim to this condition, probably in light of the poor practice of medicine at the time.
Debunked Origin Theory #1—Specially Rigged Coffins
The patented “Improved Burial Case” by Franz Vester of Newark, New Jersey, on August 25, 1868. Note the presence of a bell to be rung if said occupant wakes up to a shocking reality.
Back in the 18th and 19th centuries cholera epidemics stoked fears of being buried alive, which in turn lead to various concepts and patented designs of what were referred to as “safety coffins.”
Each description of these caskets includes a number of features, including a window to allow monitoring the presumed dead person for signs of life, a tube for providing fresh air, and most importantly, some sort of device that would enable an entombed victim to ring a rescue bell posted above the gravesite.
But while the Internet is full of illustrations and photos of various fail-safe “corpse containers” there are no references – nada – about any of these types of coffins actually saving anyone. Also, there seems to be no accounts of anyone using the idiom prior to those related to the rules of professional boxing.
Debunked Origin Theory #2— School Daze
One of the most shared mid- and upper-school experiences is the sound of a bell, chime or buzzer to signal the beginning and end of a school day, and the division of that day into equal time periods for different classes, lunch times, and study halls.
Edgar Allen Poe (1809 – 1849), America’s first mystery and spooky story writer.
Many former students recall something like the following scenario. Your American Literature assignment was to read Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Premature Burial,” which of course you totally forgot to do. So when Mrs. Gruber awakens you with a question, your mind’s a blank. You are trapped. Like a rat.
And then, the bell, signifying the end of class, rings (with apologies to Poe’s poem, “The Bells”), and Am. Lit class is over. Saved by the bell!
But putting aside any empathy one might have with sleepy students and ringing bells, again, all “origin” references for saved by the bell point first to its use in connection with boxing terminology. Case closed. Pala casino online. And this post is closed.
![The The](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/51/d8/ce/51d8ce7214edb5cf8d5474448526306f.jpg)
However…
Any discussion about the idiom saved by the bell would be incomplete without mentioning the classic classroom TV comedy series shown below.
With mom jeans (and dad jeans) and big hair for all, Saved by the Bell was an NBC Saturday morning sitcom that ran from 1989 – 1993. Cast featured Tiffani Thiessen, Mario Lopez, Lark Voorhies, Elizabeth Berkley, and Dustin Diamond. After the series ended, all of the above went on to acting careers of varying degrees of fame/notoriety.
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saved by the bell
Saved or spared from difficulty or misfortune by some intervention at the very last moment. An allusion to the bell that ends the round in a boxing match saving a boxer from being counted out. The teacher was just getting ready to hand out the quizzes when the fire alarm went off—saved by the bell!
![List List](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f5/07/70/f50770c95378e240fe9f9980699e06d4--single-life-my-sister.jpg)
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
saved by the bell
Cliché saved by the timely intervention of someone or something. (Alludes to a boxer who is saved from being counted out by the bell that ends a round.) I was going to have to do my part, but someone knocked on the door and I didn't have to do it. I was saved by the bell. I wish I had been saved by the bell.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
saved by the bell
Rescued from a difficulty at the last moment, as in I couldn't put off explaining his absence any longer, but then Bill arrived and I was saved by the bell . This expression alludes to the bell rung at the end of a boxing round, which, if it rings before a knocked-down boxer has been counted out, lets him get up and continue fighting in the next round. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
saved by the bell
You say saved by the bell when you are in a difficult situation and at the last moment, something happens which allows you to escape from it. There was another period of silence. It was broken by the sound of Eleanor's car pulling up outside the front door. `Saved by the bell,' I said. Note: This expression refers to the bell which signals the end of a round in a boxing match.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
saved by the bell
preserved from danger narrowly or by an unexpected intervention.In boxing matches a contestant who has been knocked to the floor can be saved from being counted out by the ringing of the bell to mark the end of a round.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
ˌsaved by the ˈbell
saved from a difficult, embarrassing, etc. situation at the last moment: Saved by the bell! He was just asking me why my report was two weeks late when you came in.This expression refers to the bell that marks the end of a round in a boxing match.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
saved by the bell
mod. saved by the timely intervention of someone or something. I was going to have to do my part, but someone knocked on the door and I didn’t have to do it. I was saved by the bell.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
saved by the bell
A last-minute reprieve. The bell referred to is the one rung at the end of a round of boxing, and it “saves” the boxer who has been knocked down if it rings before he has been counted “out.” Transferring the term to other kinds of fortunate intervention dates from the mid-twentieth century. “‘Then I don’t know it,’ I told him, saved by the bell,” wrote Alan Sillitoe (The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, 1959).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
Saved By The Bell Catch Phrases Examples
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