steal a march

present singular third person steals a march · participle present stealing a march · past stole a march · participle past stolen a march

1. idiomaticintransitiveTo gain an advantage unobserved.

   Fifty thousand men cannot easily steal a march over the sea.

   1759 August 1, Horace Walpole, Letter to Sir Horace Mann, page 501

   3 more examples

   You muſt knovv, ſhe yeſterday vvanted to ſteal a march of poor Liddy, and vvent to breakfaſt in the Room vvithout any other companion than her dog, in expectation of meeting vvith the Baronet, […]

   1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Sir Watkin Phillips, of Jesus College, Oxon.”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, pages 127–128

   He enjoyed the idea of stealing a march on society, and seeing the sons he had left at such a disadvantage behind him, ruffling it, in spite of absurd law, with the foolish best.

   1883, George MacDonald, chapter 67, in Donal Grant

   Meanwhile, in 1887, the construction of a curve at Ancoats had given the Midland tortuous access to Manchester Victoria, and two years later it stole a march on the L.N.W.R. by announcing through carriages between London, Bolton, and Blackburn.

   1960 March 28, Alan Rannie, “The Friendships of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 171

2. idiomaticintransitiveTo start early.

   They stole a march by taking non-merchandise inventory on January 2.

   1 more example

   In the morning he stole a march on the sun, for he had finished breakfast when its first rays caught him.

   1905, Jack London, All Gold Canyon