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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 鈥渋gnite,鈥 a usage dating from the mid-1100s.Example Sentences
鈥淚 think it would light a fire under people to show that we can do some things that we didn鈥檛 think we could do,鈥 said Alagona, who in 2016 founded the California Grizzly Research Network.
Wouldn鈥檛 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.
The White House is trying to light a fire under Congress to pass $106 billion in war aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, but the emergency funding isn鈥檛 dire enough for Democrats to cut a deal with Republicans on border security.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from 亚洲网紅露点 Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 漏 Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage庐 Idioms Dictionary copyright 漏 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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