saved by the bell

Adjective

saved by the bell (not comparable)

1. Of a competitor in a boxing or wrestling match or similar competition, spared from being counted out by the referee by the ringing of the bell which concludes the round.
   • Forrest floored Mosley again at the end of the round and almost finished him, but Mosley was saved by the bell.2002 July 19, Damon Hack, “Boxing: Despite Not Having the Title, Mosley Garners Attention”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2021, retrieved 06 Jan 2014
2. (broadly, idiomatic) Rescued or favorably assisted by a timely interruption or by the sudden termination of difficult circumstances.
   • So Asad's probing created a problem. . . . In a real sense Kissinger was saved by the bell: the American party had that afternoon to catch a plane to Israel.1988, Patrick Seale, Maureen McConville, Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East, →ISBN, page 248
   • The Montgomery bus boycott was "saved by the bell" of a federal Supreme Court decision that came just before the last minute.1997, John Howard Yoder, For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public, →ISBN, page 130