Why do we say "Saved by the bell"?

Meaning:

To be rescued from a disaster at the last minute.

Background:

Many people associate this phrase with being buried alive. Premature entombment has been a worry since humanity first started burying their deceased. The concern reached fever pitch during the Victorian period, though, spurred in large part by Edgar Allen Poe’s writings. He published three short stories featuring people who had been interred while still living ("The Fall of the House of Usher" in 1839, "The Cask of Amontillado" in 1846, and a supposedly true story in 1844 called "The Premature Burial") and the reading public found them so frightening that they demanded some way to be assured they’d never find themselves in that situation. (Fun fact: the fear of being buried alive is known as taphephobia.) In response, the safety coffin was created, whereby cords were attached to the body which were then run through the casket to a bell on the outside. In theory, if someone was moving around in the box, someone outside would hear the bell ringing and rescue the person entombed. History doesn’t record anyone actually being "saved by the bell," but it allayed the fears of many.

There’s no evidence the phrase "saved by the bell" was used in this context before it appeared elsewhere, however. Instead, it’s believed it was a 19th century boxing term invoked when one of the combatants was about to lose their match, but the round ended – signaled by the ringing of a bell – which allowed them time to recover. The first use of the expression in print is likely an 1893 sports article from The Fitchburg Daily Sentinel (Massachusetts) in which the reporter wrote, "Martin Flaherty defeated Bobby Burns in 32 rounds by a complete knockout. Half a dozen times Flaherty was saved by the bell in the earlier rounds."

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