stepping-off place

American  

[step-ing-awf, -of] / ˈstɛp ɪŋˈɔf, -ˈɒf /

noun

1. jumping-off place.

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Etymology

Origin of stepping-off place

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Coolgardie, his first stepping-off place, proved to be a dying city.

From Project Gutenberg

Then the Honorable Spencer Pratt, Consul-General of the United States, retired to the seclusion of his apartments in Raffles Hotel, and, under the soothing swish of his plunkah, forgot the accursed heat of that stepping-off place, Singapore, and dreamed of future greatness.

From Project Gutenberg

Many writers use that as their stepping-off place because I think one thing that writers share in common is this sense of aloneness.

From Time Magazine Archive

As long as he held this ridge, which was the keystone of his armies in Flanders, he was immune from any vulnerable attack on our part, and was free to launch any offensive operation from it by using it as a stepping-off place.

From Project Gutenberg

At first the enemy puts down a nasty barrage, just beyond our stepping-off place, but most of his heavy stuff falls on the canal bank, and, as the majority of the troops have already crossed, the damage is not severe.

From Project Gutenberg