steal a march
The idiom "steal a march" has military origins, referring to moving troops secretly to gain an advantage over the enemy. It is now used more broadly to describe gaining an advantage by acting before others.
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Definition
C1General
(informal)To gain an advantage over someone by acting before they do.
Example
- By submitting her application early, she managed to steal a march on the other candidates.
C2Military
(historical, technical)To move troops secretly to gain an advantage over the enemy.
Example
- The general decided to steal a march on the enemy by advancing under the cover of darkness.
Similar
Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "steal a march":
get a leg upget the drop onget ahead ofsteal someone's thunderkeep aheadget ahead of oneselfjump the gunsneak uprun aheadtake advantagestrike a leaddouble stealhead off at the passmarch onedge outwalk off withsnap upget over onjump the queuetake the leadmake off withmake away with