get on the stick

Idioms  

1. Start working, as in I have to get on the stick and start preparing dinner. This synonym for get going or get busy alludes to getting a car going by manipulating the gearshift, or stick. [Slang; early 1900s]

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Example Sentences

“We know we’ve got to get on the stick and do something.”

From New York Times

“And then they can get on the stick and start recruiting more judges and training the judges,” added Hogan, a Democrat who isn’t related to the governor.

From Washington Times

How about Congress get on the stick and tell the executive branch to pursue the war on terror properly: Wage war on the Islamic State and arrest anyone in the U.S. who is a suspected terrorist.

From Seattle Times

Now Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, who’s clearly had enough of Metro’s shenanigans, is threatening to withhold more than $7 million in regional transportation subsidies unless the three jurisdictions get on the stick.

From Washington Post

Asked if he favored lifting the debt ceiling when the Treasury runs out of borrowing authority next month, he said he “would provide the kind of leadership that says, ‘Get on the stick, guys, and stop messing around, and cut where you need to cut, because we’re not raising any spending limits, period.’

From New York Times