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Vocabulary : Idioms : Sports : quick off the mark

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quick off the mark

Meaning: If you are quick off the mark, you are quick to react to an event or an opportunity.

For example:

  • Steven was quick off the mark when the internet started. He had his first website up and running before most people had even tried email.

  • Bobby is always quick off the mark when a girl comes into the bar. He's offering her a drink before most of us have even noticed her.

Note: 1. From athletics, in which runners are "on their marks" before a race begins, and those who react quickest to the starter's gun are "quick off the mark". 2. "Slow off the mark" is an idiom which has the opposite meaning to "quick off the mark".

Quick Quiz:

If someone is quick off the mark, they do something
  1. before most other people
  2. after most other people
  3. better than most other people

Discuss: quick off the mark

Idiom of the Day

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