fire the starting gun

verb

To launch or trigger an event or situation.

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Meanings

verbfire the starting gun (third-person singular simple present fires the starting gun, present participle firing the starting gun, simple past and past participle fired the starting gun)

present singular third person fires the starting gun · participle present firing the starting gun · participle past fired the starting gun · past fired the starting gun

  1. idiomaticoftenTo launch or trigger an event or situation.

    The TV and radio star Noel Edmonds, who is expected to join ITV’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here jungle camp this week, is also likely to fire the starting gun on a £60m lawsuit against Lloyds Bank.

    2018 November 19, Kalyeena Makortoff, “Noel Edmonds likely to file £60m Lloyds lawsuit on Wednesday”, in The Guardian
    1 more example

    Halks-Miller’s discovery fired the starting gun on the race to develop a diagnostic blood test. Illumina spun off a new company, Grail, to develop the test, raising more than $2bn from investors including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and the Chinese company Tencent.

    2023 May 17, Jamie Smyth, “Quick blood tests to spot cancer: will they help or harm patients?”, in Financial Times

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 打響發令槍 /打响发令枪
  • 打響發令槍 /打响发令枪 (dǎxiǎng fālìngqiāng)Translations
Cite this entry
APA

fire the starting gun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fire%20the%20starting%20gun

MLA

“fire the starting gun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fire%20the%20starting%20gun. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fire the starting gun,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fire%20the%20starting%20gun.

Source: fire the starting gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.