save by the bellとは 意味・読み方・使い方

動詞

save by the bell (三人称単数 現在形 saves by the bell, 現在分詞 saving by the bell, 過去形および過去分詞形 saved by the bell)

1. (transitive, boxing, wrestling) 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.
   • 2013 Dec. 30, "Behind The Gloves 2013 Picks!," behindthegloves.com (retrieved 22 Jan 2014):

     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.

2. (transitive, idiomatic, by extension) To rescue or favorably assist (someone) by means of a timely interruption or the sudden termination of difficult circumstances.
   • 1951 April, Charles Bell, "Sea Rescue," Motor Boating, p. 36 (Google preview):

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

   • 1954 General Practitioner, vol. 10, p. 46 (Google snippet view):

     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.

   • 1983, Jim Smoke, Every Single Day, →ISBN, p. 207 (Google snippet view):

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

   • 1991, Elizabeth Gage, Pandora's Box, →ISBN, p. 376 (Google snippet view):

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

   • 2011 Oct. 13, nekobun, "Nekobun's Cblog: There Would've Been Brawl: Let's Keep It Clean," destructoid.com (retrieved 22 Jan 2014):

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

   • 2011 Dec. 1, Gary J. Borgstede, "The Lord Delivers," The Make It Happen Moment (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.

使用する際の注意点

• Almost always used in the past participial form: saved by the bell.

参考

• down for the count