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Thursday, July 21, 2016

To pound the pavement; used as a verb





Context #1

Leo: How's the job hunting going?
Janice: Not so great. I've been pounding the pavement all week, I've emailed out over 40 resumes, and I still haven't gotten an interview!
Leo: Sorry to hear that. But you'll find something.
Janice: I know. That's why I'm on my way to pound the pavement some more.
Leo: That's the spirit! Keep it up!

Meaning: The expression "to pound the pavement" means to walk through the streets looking for something, usually a job. But while the idiom means to walk through the streets, it doesn't always mean that someone is literally walking around; in the example above, Janice says she has sent over 40 resumes over email, suggesting she isn't literally walking around.  Less commonly, the expression can be used for non-job related activities, although in these cases, it usually means they literally walked around, as in the next example:





Context #2

The candidate's volunteers pounded the pavement, trying to reach out to their community. Due to their efforts, 1000 people joined the candidate's rally the following Saturday.

Meaning: In this example, the volunteers probably did literally walk through the streets, discussing their preferred political candidate with others.


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing another super awesome idiom, dude ... Keep up the good work ... Can't wait for more ... Say hi to everyone at LS for us ...

    Russian ESL students
    Moscow

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