pull up stakes

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

"It's a nuisance, having to pull up stakes," he went on, with a fretful glance about the studio.

From Project Gutenberg

The devil take me if I don't pull up stakes and be off, if that sort of calumny is to be flung at me!

From Project Gutenberg

Perhaps we may go to Milan with you, or to Naples,—there's a conservatory there, too; and we can pull up stakes as easily as not.

From Project Gutenberg

Say, well have rice every way under the sun up to the day we pull up stakes and get out of here.

From Project Gutenberg

So again in 1773, calling his little family around the fireside one night, he told them he meant to pull up stakes and move on.

From Project Gutenberg