light a fire under

1. Also, build a fire under. Urge or goad to action, as in If we don't light a fire under that committee, they'll never do any work. This hyperbolic colloquialism uses light in the sense of “ignite,” a usage dating from the mid-1100s.

Example Sentences

Things move at a glacial pace when Celtic enter the transfer realm but if this powder-puff performance doesn't light a fire under the backside of the hierarchy - major shareholder, Dermot Desmond, in other words - then nothing will.

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As his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent openly admitted, these threats are designed to "light a fire" under such stalled talks.

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She’s always going to her for advice, and Hamby always seems to know when to nurture and when to light a fire under Burrell.

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“I think it would light a fire under people to show that we can do some things that we didn’t think we could do,” said Alagona, who in 2016 founded the California Grizzly Research Network.

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Wouldn’t that light a fire under you?

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