BELL THE CAT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Bell the cat

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/bɛl ðə kæt/ Listen

Bell the cat

verb

Take a risk; perform a daring act.

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Etymology of 'Bell the cat'

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"Bell the cat" Quotes from Famous Books

... there was, as he said, a dead set at him, and that the Pall Mall for a wonder was backing it up. On his first point I was sure that Mr. Gladstone did not wish for his resignation, and knew that I should go too. On the second, I doubted any member being ready to bell the cat; and on the third point I was sure that Mr. Gladstone's defence of Chamberlain would not be such as to entail ...

— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Vol. 2 • Stephen Gwynn

... robins and wrens and thrushes which are predestined prey, there is only one way to save them, the way which Archibald Douglas took to save the honour of Scotland,—"bell the cat." A good-sized sleigh-bell, if she be strong enough to bear it, a bunch of little bells, if she be small and slight,—and the pleasures of the chase are over. One little bell is of no avail, for she learns to move with such infinite precaution that ...

— Americans and Others • Agnes Repplier

... not yet made up its mind to bell the cat, and to let us know the terms of the armistice or capitulation, whichever it is to be called. We hear that it is expected that trains will run to England on Tuesday or Wednesday, and by the first train I for one shall endeavour to get out of ...

— Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris • Henry Labouchere

... But you see I'm Chairman of this blessed show, and they all fixed on me to bell the cat. We want a hundred acres of the Park, a new agent, notices for three ...

— Elizabeth's Campaign • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... at my brother. The other men in the store showed their teeth in a sort of pitiful, snarling grin. Each was sensible of a secret pleasure that somebody else had dared to bell the cat. ...

— Bunch Grass - A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch • Horace Annesley Vachell