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sound as a bell



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Idioms and Phrases

In excellent condition, as in Now that the brakes have been relined, the car is sound as a bell , or The surgery went well and now he's sound as a bell . This simile rests on the assumption that the bell in question is not cracked (which would make it useless). First recorded in 1565, it has survived numerous other similes ( sound as a top or roach or dollar ), probably owing to its pun on “sound.”

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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sound-and-light showsound barrier