get the ball rolling

Idioms  

1. Also, keep the ball rolling. Start an undertaking; also, keep an undertaking from flagging. For example, Let's get the ball rolling by putting up some posters, or The hostess kept the ball rolling, talking to each of the guests in turn. This expression originated in one or another sport in which it was important to keep a ball moving. [Colloquial; late 1700s] Also see get the show on the road.

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Example Sentences

In industries such as construction, sufficient capacity already exists to get the ball rolling on investment, he added.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 25, 2025

It’s time to hire a lawyer and get the ball rolling on probate, and make sure these accounts are dealt with properly.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 12, 2025

A site owned by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, in west Harlow, was purchased by PHE for £30m to get the ball rolling in 2017.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2025

Given a six-year stalemate in talks to resolve the country’s nearly half-century division, the deal is seen as a minor breakthrough in overall efforts to get the ball rolling again on peace negotiations.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 9, 2023

Haymitch is whisked away on a stretcher, and Effie Trinket is trying to get the ball rolling again.

From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins