bear away the bell

English

Etymology

A bell was once a traditional prize in races.

Verb

bear away the bell (third-person singular simple present bears away the bell, present participle bearing away the bell, simple past bore away the bell, past participle borne away the bell)

  1. (idiomatic, obsolete) To be superior in something.
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
      And as these western men do bear away the bell for might and sleight in wrestling , so the scholars here have always acquitted themselves with credit in palæstrâ literariâ

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for bear away the bell under bell in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

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