Bell phrases

A ceremony in the greater excommunication introduced into the Catholic Church in the eighth century. After reading the sentence a bell is rung, a book closed, and a candle extinguished. From that moment the excommunicated person is excluded from the sacraments and even divine worship. 1 “Bell, book, and candle shall not drive not back.”—Shakespeare: King John, iii. 3. In spite of bell, book, and candle, i.e. in spite of all the opposition which the Christian hierarchy can offer. (See CURSING.) http://www.bartleby.com/81/1643.html

Give her the bells and let her fly. Don’t throw good money after bad; make the best of the matter, but do not attempt to bolster it up. When a hawk was worthless, the bells were taken off, and the bird was suffered to escape, but the advice given above is to “leave the bells” and let the hawk go.http://www.bartleby.com/81/1642.html

Ringing the bells backwards, is ringing a muffled peal. Backwards is often used to denote “in a contrary direction” (tout le contraire), as, “I hear you are grown rich—” “Yes, backwards.” To ring a muffled peal, is to ring a peal of sorrow, not of joy. 5 In olden times bells were rung backwards as a tocsin, or notice of danger. http://www.bartleby.com/81/1642.html