Ring the Bell
This dinner bell stood in the backyard of my childhood home. We seldom rang it. However, years before, people would ring the bell to let everyone know it was time to eat. Hungry workers listened for it. The bell also notified of announcements or emergencies.
According to The Free Dictionary, ring the bell has several meanings.
Ring the bell refers to something we want or need.
Hungry workers get food. We get what we desire or look for.
- Visits
- Cars
- Homes
- Cold water on a hot day
They satisfy us to a T.
The expression also refers to something special or outstanding.
Dinner bells made announcements. The following ring the bell for us.
- Entertainment
- Events
- People
- Work
In addition, ring the bell directs our focus.
We may need only be aware, or we may need to act. Like a dinner bell, it can serve as a warning, as in:
- Business contracts
- Community or national plans
- Weather changes
- Health crises
These circumstances get our attention. They occasionally upset us or cause us to wring our hands in worry.
Ring the bell does not mean the same as rings a bell.
Anything that rings a bell makes us remember. Ring the bell notifies, informs, or lets us know about something.
Let’s never fail to ring the bell about God’s offer of eternal love and joy.
“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. “Psalm 90:14 NIV
Thanks to Beckham Wilson for the suggestion and to Gail Gosser for the photo.
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12 thoughts on “Ring the Bell”
I’m glad you clarified the difference between ring the bell and rings a bell. I guess I’d never really heard this expression.
Tracy, I had heard both expressions but had never thought about the similarity in words but difference in meaning until I received the suggestion. This post was interesting to write, especially when I tied it to our old dinner bell.
This was a wonderful idiom to think on. “Ring the bell notifies, informs, or lets us know about something.” I love when I hear the church bells in our town ring at noon time 🙂 Knowing the ringing is coming from the church always makes me think of the Lord and His faithfulness.
I love the sound of church bells too, Joanne. The old church where I grew up had a rope hanging from the back ceiling that people pulled to call people in for the service. Like you, when we lived in town, I listened for the call from the church noon bells. Thank you for those memories.
Love this term, Diana, and the photo of the old bell. At my mom and dad’s house, there was a bell just like it, and my kids loved to be lifted up so they could ring it when we visited. Great memories!
Blessings!
Thank you, Martha. That old bell was one of the items my sister and I wanted to be sure we kept after our parents died. Those old bells attract most children, don’t they?
There was a bell where I grew up (I have it). The most I remember about it other than it being there is I was forbidden to ring it. The idea conveyed was that it would signal alarm. And of course, even still the boy in me wants to ring the bell.
Beckham, since you have the bell, and it is rarely used as a warning these days, the little boy in you can go out there and ring it to your heart’s content! Blessings.
Loved this post Ms. Diana, as you brought back so many memories. I can remember merme’ (grandmother) LeGere’s little hand bell. She would ring it when she was bedridden and needed something from her daughter (my adopted mama). We have a little bell mounted on the wood post on the back stoop. It still rings, but I don’t know that we’ve ever used it. I doubt I’d hear it over the diesel engines running anyway. I also remembered how we used steel targets, far down range, to “ring the bell” as they would make a distinctive sound we could hear from 1,000 yards away (when no one else was shooting). Although we could see the impact of the bullet (it had about a two-second flight time) through the scope, it still felt good to hear that “brrrring.”
Thank you, J.D. I recall bedridden relatives with little bells too. I had not thought about that in regard to this expression, but it certainly works. I had not thought about steel targets ringing either. You have added much food for thought!
I always enjoy your thoughts and insights on these sayings, Diana. We didn’t have a bell on our farm, but I was always ready and thankful when it was time for a lunch break and when approaching darkness “rang the bell” for the end of the workday.
I love your thought about how approaching darkness rang the bell for the end of the workday, Katherine. I may never view sunsets quite the same again. Thank you for your kind words and lovely word picture.