get off the ground

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Idioms and Phrases

Make a start, get underway, as in Because of legal difficulties, the construction project never got off the ground . This expression, alluding to flight, dates from the mid-1900s. The similar-sounding get off to a flying start , meaning “make a successful start,” alludes not to flight but to a quick start in a race, a usage from the late 1800s. For example, He's off to a flying start with his dissertation .

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

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