get on the stick

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]

Example Sentences

Today’s Democrats better get on the stick to protect their program, prontissimo.

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

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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