get down to business

and get down to work

to begin to get serious; to begin to negotiate or conduct business. All right, every one. Let's get down to business. There has been enough chitchat. When the president and vice president arrive, we can get down to business.

get down to business

to begin seriously doing what you need to do They both knew they did not have much time, so they got down to business and began to discuss the issues that needed to be settled.

Usage notes: sometimes used without get: Our professor is very down to business and very well prepared.

Related vocabulary: get down to it

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Elisa	e-LEE-zah (Italian, German), E-lee-sah (Finnish)	Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Finnish, English
Dashiell	-	English (Rare)
ÉVike	-	Hungarian
Elsa	EL-sə (English), EL-zah (German), EL-sah (Finnish)	English, German, Swedish, Icelandic, Finnish, Italian
Gawain	gə-WAYN (English), GOW-ən (English)	Welsh, Arthurian Romance
Ditte	-	Danish