to get rolling
36
3.5
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
ponerse en marcha
- "Ready whenever you are, boss." Dan glanced once at the distant camera's red eye, then said, "Let's get rolling."
- get the ball rolling
So everything else is just get rolling out of bed and get to work.
- So everything else is just get rolling out of bed and get to work.
- And so I do my set, it starts a little slow and then I I get rolling.
- We can go back and forth the questions here and there, chat a little bit and then get rolling.
- We're here outside New York City, downtown Broadway and Prince had a good ask Gary Vee, the book call today that's getting rolling.
- Like, they are the ones who get the ball rolling if they're alone.
- So no better time to get rolling on it than now.
- And with Instagram, it's just a lot harder to get the ball rolling.
- Like, here's X number of dollars to get you rolling and hire staff and create some infrastructure here.
- And it may be small, but that's, you know, that's, that's all I need to, to get the ball rolling.
Examples
-
Once we get this thing rolling, we're not likely to stop it!
Fiction book (1992) -
Well come on everybody - let's get this thing rolling!
-
And once things get rolling and prices have gone up yesterday, the price will keep going up tomorrow.
-
We need to get rolling.
-
I want to get rolling.
-
So it took a while to get things rolling in our favor.
Academic text (2004) -
We never really did get rolling with them the way you would expect to.
Academic text (1991) -
That's great, I want to do everything to get the ball rolling on this project.
-
I know I've gotta get the ball rolling on the organ donations right away.
-
We need to get rolling on this project if we want to meet the deadline.
Synonyms
481
1.8
To begin doing something, for example a task or meeting
422
2.3
To start doing something or to leave
62
1.6
Start being active or hurry to do something
38
4.2
Start a project or business successfully so it begins to work
16
2.8
To start a meeting or project by taking the first step
12
5.8
Start working quickly and with energy
10
7.8
To begin an activity with energy
3
5.2
To start something after getting everything ready
3
4.2
Start working more actively and getting more done
1
4.9
Start a series of actions that lead to later changes
1
9.7
To start working hard without delay
To start doing something quickly
To start working quickly and seriously
To make an effort to become active after doing nothing
Antonyms
How Active
86
3.0
15
4.1
- Informal
36
3.5
422
2.3
∞
1.0
66
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
get + rolling
The phrase combines a basic verb 'get' (become/cause) with 'rolling' (moving by turning), so its meaning 'begin to move/start something' follows a straightforward compositional pattern: become + rolling = start moving/starting activity. This motion metaphor is common cross-linguistically and follows regular English patterns (cf. 'get going'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely infer the intended sense.
Etymology
Get rolling comes from the image of a wheel or ball that begins to move when you push it; to get something rolling is to make it start moving. So, get rolling means 'to start' or 'to begin an activity'.