What it means
It means to kick things off and get people moving instead of leaving the whole thing parked there doing nowt. You say it when someone makes the first move and that sparks the rest, whether it's a meeting, a plan, a project, or just a chat that needed one brave soul to open their mouth.
Usage examples
"Before we all sit here nodding, let’s get the ball rolling, mate. I’ll pull up the doc and you lot chuck in ideas."
"I'll send the first email to get the ball rolling on the project."
"Right, enough waffle, let's get the ball rolling and book the bloody venue before everything's gone."
"No one was saying anything in the chat, so Jess got the ball rolling with a daft meme and suddenly everyone piled in."
"We've been chatting absolute circles for twenty minutes, so I'm getting the ball rolling and ordering the food."
Where it comes from
It comes from ball games, especially bowling and similar setups where nothing starts till somebody actually sends the ball moving. By the 1800s it was already being used figuratively in English for starting plans, discussions, and bits of business, and it stuck because the image is dead clear.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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