step on it
verbEtymology An automobile accelerator is usually a foot pedal, so stepping down harder increases the acceleration.
1
Automotive, Transport, Vehicles To drive fast; to step on the accelerator.
- If I step on it, I can still arrive on time.
- But a signal check at Tollerton was not expected and the driver had to "step on it" thereafter, to reach Darlington, as we did, dead on time.1959 July 23, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 482:
2
Idiomatic To act quickly.
- They'll have to step on it to finish the paper tonight.
- Related terms
- bug out, burn rubber, floor it, haul ass, make like a tree, make tracks, pedal to the metal, take off