alarm bell

Definitions

1. 1

   A sudden awareness of danger.

   • The specter of women in factories, women in schoolrooms, and women attending — a lot less addressing — public meetings set off alarm bells in the South.
   • I only got a glimpse of him, but alarm bells went off. He wasn't rushing over to give me a pat on the back for stopping to help.
   • England were shipping penalties at an alarming rate - five in the first 15 minutes alone - and with Wilkinson missing three long-distance pots of his own in the first 20 minutes, the alarm bells began to ring for Martin Johnson's men.
2. 2

   Used other than figuratively or idiomatically

   Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see alarm, bell.

   • He put his foot on a concealed button under his desk and rang an alarm bell. He always had two strongarm men lolling around in an office down the passage.

The neighborhood