Saved by the Bell
Meaning
A last-minute rescue.
Origin
The most obvious explanation comes from a boxer being saved by the round-ending bell.
A guard at Windsor Castle in the Victorian times was accused of being asleep on night duty. He vigorously denied this and, in his defence, said that he had heard Big Ben (which could be heard in Windsor in those days before traffic and Heathrow Airport) chime 13 at midnight. The mechanism was checked and it was found that a gear or cog had slipped and that the clock had indeed chimed 13 the previous night – he was truly Saved by the Bell.
