Word.ws English Dictionary

getting a leg up

getting a leg up is the present participle and gerund of get a leg up.

Meaning of get a leg up

Verb

get a leg up (third-person singular simple present gets a leg up, present participle getting a leg up, simple past got a leg up, past participle (UK) got a leg up or (US) gotten a leg up)

  1. (idiomatic) To get a boost or a lift.
    • I can climb over the fence if I get a leg up from you.
  2. (idiomatic) To gain some advantage; to get a head start.
    • He hopes that all the extra advertising will allow him to get a leg up on the competition.

Questions about getting a leg up

What is getting a leg up the present participle and gerund of?
Getting a leg up is the present participle and gerund of get a leg up.

Words near getting a leg up in the dictionary

  1. getting a grip
  2. getting a handle on
  3. getting a hold of
  4. getting a jump on
  5. getting a kick out of
  6. getting a leg up
  7. getting a life
  8. getting a line on
  9. getting a load of
  10. getting a move on
  11. getting a pair

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: getting a leg up (page history and authors); get a leg up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “getting a leg up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/getting_a_leg_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.