Five Bell Ringing Idioms?
1. Alarm bells rang - Alarm bells rang when the stock market fell for the third consecutive day. 2. Bells and whistles - deluxe extras, fancy add-ons or gadgets e.g. this microwave comes with several bells and whistles 3. Learn the ropes - nautical expression describing rope knots new sailors must learn. More generally refers to learning new skill. Here ‘ ropes ’ also refers to bell ropes. 4. Ring a bell - to remind you of something without recalling the specific information. His face rings a bell - do I know him from somewhere? Q: Do you know what counterpoint is? A: It rings a bell . Something to do with music, isn’t it Q: Did you recognise the voice on the phone? A: No, but it rang a bel l . I’ve heard it somewhere before. 5. Saved by the bell - when a bad outcome is avoided because of time-based technicality e.g. Smith looked about to collapse but was saved by the bell. Derives from the bell the end of every round of a boxing match. The first citation in the US was in...