jump the gun

present singular third person jumps the gun · participle present jumping the gun · participle past jumped the gun · past jumped the gun

1. hobbiesTo begin a race too soon, before the starting gun goes off.

   Unperturbed when an overanxious opponent jumped the gun in the women's 60-yd. dash, willowy Wilma Rudolph exploded perfectly from the starting blocks.

   1961 February 24, “Sport: Higher & Farther”, in Time

2. idiomaticTo act or begin too soon or without due caution.

   The former prime minister appears to be jumping the gun, pre-empting the legal process that is just beginning to dig deeper.

   2006 May 15, Rob Hughes, “Uneasiness in Italy as Scandal Widens”, in New York Times, retrieved 03 Sep 2011

   3 more examples

   Taking advantage of advance press releases, gabby Walter Winchell jumped the gun a full two weeks by announcing in his radio period and tabloid column that the 1933-34 prizewinner was Men in White by Sidney Kingsley.

   1934 May 14, “Theatre: Pulitzer Pother”, in Time

   General reading readiness is assessed by tests and is also estimated by teachers who are often skillful at discerning just when a pupil is ready to learn to read. The important thing to remember is that jumping the gun is usually self-defeating.

   1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 24

   On a train back to Boston and we're jumpin' the gun / And I'm tellin' you baby, "This the part where I'd run" / But I like it when you're nice, like it when you're nice to me

   2026 March 27, Stella Lefty, Grace Enger, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Joe Reeves, Noah Kahan, “Boston”, in Long Way Home, performed by Stella Lefty, track 5

3. idiomaticinvestingbusinessTo trade securities based on information that is not yet public; to trade on inside information.