stands on someone's shoulders

Verb

stand on someone's shoulders (third-person singular simple present stands on someone's shoulders, present participle standing on someone's shoulders, simple past and past participle stood on someone's shoulders)

1. (idiomatic) To build on the previous discoveries or creativity of someone.
   • What then can we say of the relevance of Classical languages and literature, Greek and Latin; what reason can we offer for the study of long dead languages. The answer is much in every way. For better or worse, we stand on the shoulders of the ancients, if not at their feet.2012, Andrew J. Schatkin, chapter 4, in Essays on the Christian Worldview and Others Political, Literary, and Philosophical, page 107