marching orders
1
6.8
- noun
- /ˈmɑːrʧɪŋ ˈɔrdərz/
- Informal
:
despido
- I’m about ready to give my doctor his marching orders and sign up with you.
- give them their marching orders
Examples
-
Finally, one day his boss called us and said that he was given marching orders.
Blog text (25) -
After weeks of poor performance, I had no choice but to give him his marching orders.
-
Makoun got his marching orders early in the second half.
Blog text (5) -
But in 2011, Cardinal Bertone gave Vigan his marching orders.
Blog text (25) -
I voted for Bush's 1st term, but since he took his marching orders from Dick Cheney in terms of foreign policy, there was no way I was going to vote for him in 2004.
Blog text (19) -
And, in fact, shortly after Obama took office, Rubin and Peterson were seen having lunch with Tim Geithner, presumably giving him his marching orders.
Blog text (12) -
The manager issued marching orders to the team, instructing them to leave the project immediately.
-
When she learned that her position was being eliminated, she received her marching orders and had to leave the office.
Synonyms
6
7.5
An official notice telling someone they have been fired from a job
An instruction to fire someone from their job
Antonyms
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'march' (to walk in organized formation) and 'order' (a command) transparently suggest a command to move or leave, so a learner could infer a literal sense of being told to go. However, the conventional figurative meaning — specifically dismissal from a job or being told to leave a situation — is an idiomatic extension of that literal image and is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Marching orders also comes from the idea of being told to 'march out' of a place; that image of being ordered to leave made the phrase a natural way to say 'a notice to leave' or to be dismissed from a job.