Home › Idioms

run it up the flagpole

Meaning: to test an idea; to present something for approval or feedback.

Language: English

Literally: to run it up the flagpole

Category: Daily Life

Origin: American corporate jargon from 1960s; flags raised to gauge support.

More idioms — Daily Life

  • Mad as a hatter — Completely eccentric or unhinged.
  • To steal someone's thunder — To take credit for another's idea or upstage their big moment.
  • Die Kirche im Dorf lassen — To keep things in proportion and not get carried away.
  • Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof — Life is not all fun and games; expect hardship.
  • Estar de Rodríguez — To be a husband left working in town while the family is on holiday.
  • Ogni morte di papa — Extremely rarely; once in a blue moon.

More English idioms

  • knock on wood — to seek good fortune; to ward off bad luck.
  • pull someone's leg — To joke or tease someone by telling them something untrue.
  • To turn a blind eye — To deliberately ignore something you know is wrong.
  • Hair of the dog — A morning drink taken to cure a hangover.
  • To bite the bullet — To face something painful with gritted courage.
  • To go cold turkey — To quit a habit abruptly and completely.

← Back to Idioms

Loading the full interactive collection…