pound the pavement

Idioms  

1. Walk the streets, especially in search of employment. For example, He was fired last year and he's been pounding the pavement ever since. A similar usage is pound a beat, meaning “to walk a particular route over and over”; it is nearly always applied to a police officer. [Early 1900s]

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Example Sentences

Runners pound the pavement as cyclists sweep by on the trails in the early morning hours.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 18, 2023

How long it takes this time and who wants to be part of it will factor into the debate as the parties pound the pavement for votes over the next six weeks.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2022

Tons of runs: Runners finally able to pound the pavement again have many options from marathons to 5K runs.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 14, 2021

In the meantime, other lawmakers have continued to pound the pavement in search of infrastructure funding.

From Washington Post • Apr. 21, 2021

For approaching him from the east his eyes had made out the familiar figure of old McCooey, the oldest plain-clothes man who still came out from Headquarters to "pound the pavement."

From Never-Fail Blake by Stringer, Arthur