bell the cat

English

Etymology

From a medieval fable in which mice agree that a bell should be put round a cat's neck so they will always be warned of its arrival, but cannot agree who should undertake the dangerous task.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

bell the cat (third-person singular simple present bells the cat, present participle belling the cat, simple past and past participle belled the cat)

1. (idiomatic) To undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group.

Translations

to undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group

• Dutch: de kat de bel aanbinden (nl)
• Finnish: panna kello kissan kaulaan
• French: attacher le grelot (fr)
• German: der Katze die Schelle umhängen, der Katze die Schelle anhängen
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: henge bjella på katten (no)

  Nynorsk: hengje bjølla på katten, henge bjølla på katten

• Persian: پیش مرگ شدن، در انجام کار مشکلی پیش قدم شدن
• Polish: narazić się (pl) (dla dobra grupy)
• Spanish: ponerle el cascabel al gato
• Vietnamese: đeo lục lạc cho mèo, treo chuông cổ mèo

See also

• take one for the team
• step into the breach
• fall on a grenade