stepping-off place
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of stepping-off place
First recorded in 1890–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Many writers use that as their stepping-off place because I think one thing that writers share in common is this sense of aloneness.
From Time Magazine Archive
Coolgardie, his first stepping-off place, proved to be a dying city.
From Down Under With the Prince by Duncan, Sara Jeannette
He has been on only a little while, but he is brought to the stepping-off place.
From How to Live a Holy Life by Orr, Charles Ebert
"But what a stepping-off place you came to then, philosopher," said Media.
From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II by Melville, Herman
It might be insidiously leading her too far away from the stepping-off place.
From Parrot & Co. by MacGrath, Harold
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
