tolling the bell for church
Preserved but no longer current.
The " church- going bell," as Cowper called it (Alexander Selkirk} was in pre-Reformation days rung, not as an invitation to church, but as an Ave Bell, to invite worshippers to a preparatory prayer to the Virgin.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “tolling the bell for church” mean?
The " church- going bell," as Cowper called it (Alexander Selkirk} was in pre-Reformation days rung, not as an invitation to church, but as an Ave Bell, to invite worshippers to a preparatory prayer to the Virgin.
Is “tolling the bell for church” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.