steal a march on

Gain an advantage over unexpectedly or secretly, as in Macy's stole a march on their rival department store with their Thanksgiving Day parade. This metaphoric expression comes from medieval warfare, where a march was the distance an army could travel in a day. By quietly marching at night, a force could surprise and overtake the enemy at daybreak. Its figurative use dates from the second half of the 1700s.

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Example Sentences

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F1 is introducing new engine and chassis regulations in 2026 and Newey has become famous for his ability to spot the secrets of new rules and steal a march on his rivals as a result.

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Steal a march on other players in this week’s Slate News Quiz.

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Selling the project - backed by a lot of money - helped steal a march on rivals, but there was also an element of gamble, too.

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Mr Trump's unusually early declaration for the election of 5 November 2024 is being seen as a tactic to steal a march on potential rivals for the Republicans' White House nomination.

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And in the United States, early in the last century, some of President Theodore Roosevelt's modest moves to regulate business and break up trusts were, in fact, designed to steal a march on this country's socialists, whom he feared, as he wrote to a friend, were "far more ominous than any populist or similar movement in times past."

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