What is the meaning and origin of ‘saved by the bell’?

(Vinod Prem Anand, Chennai)

When you are in a rather sticky situation, what is it that you pray for? You hope that something will happen in the last minute which will help you get out of the rather difficult situation. When you are saved by the bell, a difficult situation suddenly comes to an end: before you have to say or do anything.

*The principal wanted to know who had broken the window. Before we could answer, his cell phone rang. We were saved by the bell.

*Luckily the guests arrived before I could say anything. Saved by the bell.

The idiom comes from the sport of boxing. Every round in a boxing match lasts for three minutes, and each round begins and ends with the ringing of a bell. At the beginning of a round, when the bell rings, the two opponents step out and start fighting. At the end of the round when the bell rings again, each is expected to immediately stop fighting and return to his respective corner. There may be times during a particular round when a fighter may be doing badly: he may be getting pummelled by his opponent. During such times the fighter hopes that before he gets knocked out, the bell signalling the end of the round rings. If it does, he has been literally ‘saved by the bell’. He can go back to his corner, take some rest and return to fight another round.

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