answer the bell

answer the bell

To meet a challenge with success. The phrase alludes to boxing, as boxers come out of their respective corners to "answer the bell" that signals the start of each round. This project has been a massive undertaking, but I've answered the bell by staying late every night this week, and things are progressing nicely. Stacy, you really answered the bell this semester and did some excellent research for us.
See also: answer, bell
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • bear the bell
  • bear away the bell
  • don't jump the gun
  • be pushing up (the) daisies
  • be pushing up daisies
  • be pushing up the daisies
  • be straining at the leash
  • Abraham
  • Abraham's bosom
  • be as safe as houses
References in classic literature
In a moment more, the gardener-groom appears at the door to answer the bell.
Before she saw them Edna could hear them in altercation, the woman--plainly an anomaly--claiming the right to be allowed to perform her duties, one of which was to answer the bell.
First of all, it was necessary to awaken the girl, who had fallen asleep with her face on the kitchen table; this took a little time, and, even when she did answer the bell, another quarter of an hour was consumed in fruitless endeavours to impart to her a faint and distant glimmering of reason.
"We've proven our resiliency and ability to win games we need to, answer the bell and learn.
"New experiences for us all the way through, but we have proven our resiliency and ability to win games that we need to, and kind of answer the bell and learn from nights like tonight."
"When something like this happens of course you're going to answer the bell, and I'm not the only one doing this," he said.
A significantly faster Pacquiao battered Dela Hoya from pillar to post in a one-sided bout that ended up with the bigger Dela Hoya unable to answer the bell in the ninth canto.
"Your primary players have to answer the bell, and he'll embrace this opportunity."
For one, the conquest of Mexican journeyman Jose Alfredo Rodriguez, who failed to answer the bell for the 8th round, could appear sensational enough.
Pete Sessions of Dallas, who told the Dallas Morning News last week that Republicans "will lose badly if we fail to answer the bell." Like Villalba, he also seemed to put some blame on Don Huffines for the condition of the party, saying he will let the state senator "answer questions about the success or failure of the party."
When asked would he give Aldo a rematch after their meeting at UFC 194, McGregor forcast the Brazilian would not be able to answer the bell for the second round.
"If guys take runs at other players, I think those players that take the run at them, whether they fight or not, they have to know in the back of their mind that there's still fighting in this game and they're going to have to answer the bell or respond to it if they're going to take dirty runs or cheap shots.''
Arreola, who was outclassed by the taller and more mobile Ukrainian, did not answer the bell at the start of the 11th round.
Lacy didn t answer the bell for the 11th, and the referee stopped the fight.
IN a rage, a man smashed his ex-girlfriend's front door window when she refused to answer the bell.