give her the bells and let her fly

To release someone from something, often a job. The phrase comes from hawking—when an owner no longer needed a particular hawk, its bells would be removed, and it would be set free. The new secretary hasn't taken one accurate message for me all week. At this point, I'm ready to give her the bells and let her fly. After messing up that account, I'm terrified that my boss is going to say, "Give her the bells and let her fly." Give her the bells and let her fly—we can't afford such expensive mistakes around here.