bell the cat
bell the cat verb: to undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group.
Verb
bell the cat (third-person singular simple present bells the cat, present participle belling the cat, simple past and past participle belled the cat)
bell the cat meaning in Persian and Vietnamese
bell the cat in Persian
- to undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group
- پیش مرگ شدن، در انجام کار مشکلی پیش قدم شدن
bell the cat in Vietnamese
- to undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group
- đeo lục lạc cho mèo, treo chuông cổ mèo
Forms of bell the cat
| third-person singular present | bells the cat |
|---|---|
| present participle | belling the cat |
| past participle | belled the cat |
| past | belled the cat |
Origin of bell the cat
From a medieval fable in which mice agree that a bell should be put round a cat's neck so they will always be warned of its arrival, but cannot agree who should undertake the dangerous task.
Questions about bell the cat
- What does bell the cat mean?
- Bell the cat means to undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group.
- What is bell the cat in Persian?
- Bell the cat in Persian is پیش مرگ شدن، در انجام کار مشکلی پیش قدم شدن. See Bell the cat meaning in Persian.
- What part of speech is bell the cat?
- Bell the cat is a verb.
- What is the past tense of bell the cat?
- The past tense of bell the cat is belled the cat.
Words near bell the cat in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bell the cat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-bell the cat.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bell the cat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bell_the_cat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.