starting gun

Noun

starting gun (plural starting guns)

1. A gun fired to start a race.
   • No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun1973, Roger Waters, “Time”, in The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd

   Synonyms:

   starting pistol, starter pistol

2. (figuratively) A signal to start or proceed; something that triggers an event or situation.
   • “In the fight for voting rights, this vote was the starting gun, not the finish line,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “We will not let it go. We will not let it die. This voter suppression cannot stand.”2021 June 22, Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill, Dealing Blow to Biden and Democrats”, in The New York Times
   • Innocuous as it sounds, this note was a starting gun for a resource race on the planet’s last vast frontier: the abyssal plains that stretch between continental shelves deep below the oceans.2021 September 27, Jonathan Watts, “Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms:

   starting signal