Word.ws English Dictionary

jumps the gun

jumps the gun is the third-person singular simple present indicative of jump the gun.

Meaning of jump the gun

Verb

jump the gun (third-person singular simple present jumps the gun, present participle jumping the gun, simple past and past participle jumped the gun)

  1. To begin a race too soon, before the starting gun goes off.
    • Unperturbed when an overanxious opponent jumped the gun in the women's 60-yd. dash, willowy Wilma Rudolph exploded perfectly from the starting blocks.1961 February 24, “Sport: Higher & Farther”, in Time
  2. (idiomatic) To act or begin too soon or without due caution.
    • Taking advantage of advance press releases, gabby Walter Winchell jumped the gun a full two weeks by announcing in his radio period and tabloid column that the 1933-34 prizewinner was Men in White by Sidney Kingsley.1934 May 14, “Theatre: Pulitzer Pother”, in Time
  3. (idiomatic, investing) To trade securities based on information that is not yet public; to trade on inside information.

Questions about jumps the gun

What is jumps the gun the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Jumps the gun is the third-person singular simple present indicative of jump the gun.

Words near jumps the gun in the dictionary

  1. jumps rope
  2. jumps salty
  3. jumps ship
  4. jumps someone's bones
  5. jumps the dock
  6. jumps the gun
  7. jumps the line
  8. jumps the queue
  9. jumps the rattler
  10. jumps the reservation
  11. jumps the shark

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jumps the gun (page history and authors); jump the gun (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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