let the grass grow under one's feet

English

Alternative forms

• let the grass grow round one's feet

Pronunciation

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Verb

let the grass grow under one's feet (third-person singular simple present lets the grass grow under one's feet, present participle letting the grass grow under one's feet, simple past and past participle let the grass grow under one's feet)

1. (idiomatic) To dally; to fail to make progress.
   • 1904, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez:

     I haven't let the grass grow under my feet. I was wired for at 3:15, reached Yoxley Old Place at 5, conducted my investigation, was back at Charing Cross by the last train, and straighte to you by cab.

   • 1964 November, “News: London Cardiff in 2hr?”, in Modern Railways, page 349:

     Mr. Fiennes repeated his promise to run expresses between Paddington and Cardiff in 2hr. "We're not going to let the grass grow under our feet," he said in a reference to progress with the Severn Road Bridge, and predicted that the 2hr trains would be running "before very long".

   • 2008, Stephen Cottrell, Hit the Ground Kneeling: Seeing Leadership Differently, →ISBN, page 21:

     What happens when we let the grass grow under our feet for once and just spend a bit of time looking around without imagining that we've got all the answers and that no one before us had anything much to offer?

   • 2009, Ralph Compton, The Western Trail: The Trail Drive, →ISBN, page 61:

     He and Rebecca then found a secluded boardinghouse to which Will and Susannah would move on Monday. Before the westbound left on Saturday morning, McCaleb spent a few minutes alone with Will. “You'll be released from here Monday,” ... Don't let any grass grow under your feet in Cheyenne; once you're there, head for Box Elder Creek.”

   • 2010, Shaf Rasul, Secrets of a Serial Entrepreneur: A Business Dragon's Guide to Success, →ISBN:

     If you like being in there at the beginning of a company then get ready to bail out when the company starts to grow. Never let the grass grow under your feet. Jobs for life are history, so if you treat people right but they still want to move onto new things you can't stop them.

   • 2011, Catherine Alliott, A Rural Affair, →ISBN:

     She'd scrubbed up. Moved on. Stepped right over Phil, over his grave. For this was not a girl to let the grass grow under her feet, particularly the grass on a mound.

   • 2013, Padraic Colum, The King of Ireland's Son, →ISBN, page 137:

     One day the Churl said to him, “Go into the town for salt for my supper, take the short way across the pasture-field, and be sure not to let the grass grow under your feet.

   • 2014, Veronica Henry, Wild Oats, →ISBN:

     Rod didn't quite understand her reaction. 'I thought you were happy at Owl's Nest? I thought you loved it here?' 'I do. But we've been here long enough. It's been two years since it was finished. We always said we'd move on. Onwards and upwards, that's what you said. Don't let the grass grow under your feet, you said.

   • 2015, Douggie Barker, Catch Mumps at the Boot Sale, →ISBN:

     His sense of humour, together with his rationalism and ideology, helped me enormously on my road to recovery. Bruce eventually convinced me of the need to move on. “Que sera sera,” he would often say to me. “Ya can't let the grass grow under yer feet, me old mate.”

See also

• a rolling stone gathers no moss
• put down roots

References

• “let the grass grow under one's feet”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.