get off the ground

1. 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.

Example Sentences

The private-sector loan didn’t get off the ground as banks awaited guidance from the Treasury Department on what collateral and guarantees they could use to shield them from losses, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It never got off the ground, but its premise was familiar: Rich paydays for golfers who felt they weren’t being paid what they were worth.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He spent all that time working out data kinks because he knew they couldn’t afford errors once the product got off the ground.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This all should provoke some American rethinking: Hamas’s revival risks preventing any international stabilization force from getting off the ground.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

These headwinds have made it hard for builders and related companies to get off the ground.

Read more on Barron's