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light a fire under
Idioms and Phrases
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
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.
“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.
Wouldn’t that light a fire under you?
Verona Frankish, chief executive of online estate agent Yopa, said the changes "will certainly light a fire under those buyers currently progressing through the transaction process, or considering a purchase this side of Christmas".
"A bit of youth is a good thing. I think he'll light a fire under the French government, which seems to be showing some signs of age," agreed the fishmonger, Johan Chassevent, 49, as he shucked a pile of Coquilles St Jacques.
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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.
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