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Synonyms

get a move on

Idioms  

  1. Also,. Hurry up; also, start working. For example, Get a move on, it's late, or Let's get cracking, kids, or It's time we got going, or The alarm went off ten minutes ago, so get rolling. The first colloquial expression dates from the late 1800s. The second term, also colloquial, employs the verb to crack in the sense of “travel with speed,” a usage dating from the early 1800s, but the idiom dates only from the first half of the 1900s. The third term dates from the late 1800s and also has other meanings; see get going. Get rolling alludes to setting wheels in motion and dates from the first half of the 1900s. Also see get busy; get on the stick.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Anxious because they needed to get a move on to find Pili.

From Literature

If I’m in the orchard, the older apple trees will tell me, “You’d better get a move on, Ida B” or “Go on now and see what your daddy wants.”

From Literature

If this group is to achieve anything then they'd better get a move on.

From BBC

“You’re going to school. Now let’s get a move on. I have to be back here by seven-thirty.”

From Literature

“Let’s get a move on, Aunt Kitty,” I said, tapping on her door.

From Literature

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.