to bell the cat

9.9

To take on a difficult or risky task that others refuse to do

idiom

Informal

: tomar el riesgo

It's a bold move to bell the cat, but someone has to stand up for the team.

Examples

Who is brave enough to bell the cat and report the fraud to management?
After hours of discussion, no one wanted to bell the cat and confront the boss about the issue.
Who will bell the cat?
He decided to bell the cat and confront the problem.
Everyone was afraid to confront the bully, but Sarah decided to bell the cat and confront him herself.
In the meeting, someone needed to bell the cat and address the team's biggest challenge directly.
If we want to improve our community, someone needs to bell the cat and take the lead on this initiative.

Synonyms

to take a dare

vsto bell the cat

1 5.6

To accept and try something difficult or risky that someone challenges you to do

does risky tasks to accept responsibility others avoid rather than respond to provocation

Antonyms

to evade

31 3.9

To avoid doing something you should do, for example a duty or a direct question

Surface Forms

bell the cat infinitive

belled the cat past

belled the cat past participle

belling the cat present participle

bells the cat third person singular

Morphology

bell + the + cat

The phrase refers to an Aesop fable (asking who will put a bell on the cat) and functions as an allusion; the literal words 'bell' + 'the' + 'cat' do not transparently convey 'taking on a risky or difficult task.' A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but has not seen the idiom would be unlikely to derive its figurative meaning, so it is idiomatic and unpredictable.

Etymology

Bell the cat comes from an old story about mice who wanted to tie a bell to a cat so they could hear it coming, but no mouse would volunteer because it was too dangerous. So, the phrase means 'to take on a difficult or risky task that others are unwilling to do'.