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Glite Dictionary
to bear away the bell

to bear away the bell

9.9
Win first place in a competition
  • idiom
  • Archaic
: ganar
  • To everyone's surprise, the underdog managed to bear away the bell in the final race.

Examples

  • The team bore away the bell at the championship last year.

  • Only the team with the most points will bear away the bell at the end of the tournament.

  • Despite the odds, they were determined to bear away the bell and claim the trophy.

  • Can you believe they bore away the bell in such a tough competition?

  • Determined to win, the team worked hard to bear away the bell in the final match.

  • After months of training, she was ready to bear away the bell at the swimming competition.

  • The underdog team shocked everyone when they bear away the bell in the championship game.

Synonyms

to win
vsto bear away the bell
∞ 1.0

To beat others in a contest or game

refers specifically to taking first place rather than general success
to pip to the post
vsto bear away the bell
  • UK
1 9.2

Beat someone at the very last moment in a contest

denotes winning first place broadly, not only last moment narrow victories
to beat off the competition
vsto bear away the bell
1 6.2

To win against other teams or companies in a contest

focuses on winning first place without stressing rival defeat

Antonyms

to lose
∞ 1.0

Fail to win a game or contest

last-place
54 3.3

In the lowest position in a competition or list

How Successful

to bear away the bell
  • Archaic
9.9
to do well
∞ 1.2
to place
35 3.8
to lose
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

bear away the bell infinitive
bearing away the bell present participle
bears away the bell third person singular
bore away the bell past
borne away the bell past participle

Morphology

bear + away + the + bell

The literal parts ('bear' = carry, 'away' = off/away, 'bell' = an object that could be won) yield an image of taking a bell away, so a learner might infer a sense of 'taking a prize.' However, the specific meaning 'win first place' depends on cultural or historical knowledge that a bell is a prize and the phrasing is archaic/rare, so the mapping is not fully predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Bear away the bell may come from old village contests where the prize was a large bell. The winner would bear away the bell and carry it off, so the phrase came to mean 'to win first place'.