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pull up stakes
pull up stakes
1. Lit. to pull up tent stakes to take down a tent in preparation to leaving. Let's pull up stakes and head home before the storm hits.
2. Fig. to end one's ties to a particular place; to get ready to move away from a place where one has lived or worked for a long time. Even after all these years, pulling up stakes is easier than you think. It's time to pull up stakes and move on.
pull up stakes
to leave the place where you have been living They lived in Los Angeles for several years before pulling up stakes for Nova Scotia.
pull up stakes
(American & Australian) to leave the place where you have been living He pulled up stakes in Indiana and moved, permanently.
pull up stakes
Move away, leave one's home, job, or country. For example, We've lived here for years, but now it's time to pull up stakes. This expression alludes to the stakes that mark property boundaries. [Early 1800s]
pull up stakes
To clear out; leave: She pulled up stakes in New England and moved to the desert.
pull up stakes
To move, usually one's home. This phrase was first used by Virginia colonists in the early 17th century. Jamestown and other settlements were surrounded by wooden palisade stakes as a defense against marauding Native Americans. To change or expand one's residence would have meant moving the barriers too, much easier than to rebuild from scratch. The phrase is sometimes heard as “pick up stakes.” The opposite is “put down stakes.” The British equivalent is “up sticks,” the sticks referring to army tent pegs.