Saved By The Bell Meaning

Example : 2002 July 19, Damon Hack, "Boxing: Despite Not Having the Title, Mosley Garners Attention," New York Times (retrieved 6 Jan 2014):  Forrest floored Mosley again at the end of the round and almost finished him, but Mosley was saved by the bell.1988, Patrick Seale and Maureen McConville, Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East, ISBN 9780520066670, p. 248 (Google preview):  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.1997, John Howard Yoder, For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public, ISBN 9780802843241, p. 130 (Google preview):  The Montgomery bus boycott was "saved by the bell" of a federal Supreme Court decision that came just before the last minute.2001 April 17, David M. Halbfinger, "New Jersey's Acting Governor Was Faulted on Ethics in 1998," New York Times (retrieved 6 Jan 2014):  But in 1998, Mr. DiFrancesco never answered the allegations against him to the satisfaction of town officials. Instead, he was saved by the bell, in a way: In a rare electoral upset, Democrats took control of the Township Council in November 1998. They immediately fired Mr. DiFrancesco and replaced him with a Democrat, giving his termination the appearance of simple partisan politics.