Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

get the lead out

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.14 in modern English

Syllables
get the lead- out
IPA
18
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To go faster; to hurry up.

Dated

Etymology

A shortened form of get the lead out of one's shoes (or one's pants). Here, lead refers to a very heavy metal, thus the expression means roughly to get rid of whatever is slowing one down and hurry up.

Usage

Inflected Forms

gets the lead out (present, singular) getting the lead out (participle, present) got the lead out (past) got the lead out (UK, participle) gotten the lead out (US, participle)

Questions

What does get the lead out mean?
To go faster; to hurry up.
Where does get the lead out come from?
A shortened form of get the lead out of one's shoes (or one's pants). Here, lead refers to a very heavy metal, thus the expression means roughly to get rid of whatever is slowing one down and hurry up.

How to pronounce get the lead out

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “get the lead out”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “get the lead out”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “get the lead out” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.