Idiom
bear away the bell
Meaning
To be superior in something.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“She always bears away the bell in our local chess club.”
“He bears away the bell every time we play this card game.”
“After months of intense training, the young athlete finally bore away the bell at the national championships.”
“The small bakery manages to bear away the bell because they use a secret family recipe that no other shop can copy.”
“Although the competition was very close, the tech startup bore away the bell by presenting a much more user-friendly app design.”
“While many talented artists submitted work to the gallery, the young painter bore away the bell with her stunning and original portrait.”
Examples
simple
“She always bears away the bell in our local chess club.”
“He bears away the bell every time we play this card game.”
contextual
“After months of intense training, the young athlete finally bore away the bell at the national championships.”
“The small bakery manages to bear away the bell because they use a secret family recipe that no other shop can copy.”
“Although the competition was very close, the tech startup bore away the bell by presenting a much more user-friendly app design.”
complex
“While many talented artists submitted work to the gallery, the young painter bore away the bell with her stunning and original portrait.”
Origin
Early records indicate the phrase derives from the former practice of awarding a bell as the traditional prize for the winner of a race. The successful competitor would physically carry the trophy from the field, a practical necessity that established the bell as a mark of precedence. The expression persists as an idiom for victory, though the custom of distributing musical percussion to athletes has largely subsided.
Key words
Related idioms
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