To Hit the Road

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Meaning:

To Hit the Road means to begin a journey, set out on a trip, to be asked to leave.

“Time to hit the road”

Origin:

This phrase means to leave, it can be good or bad. The bad way is when someone is telling you to go home or to get out “hit the road” or in the good sense it means that you are about to set out on a trip of some kind “all ready? Let’s hit the road.”

The phrase has origins in the 1800s when it meant the pounding of a horse’s hooves hitting the trail, re was first written in W. F. Butler’s book ‘The Wild North Land: being the story of a winter journey, with dogs, across northern North America ‘ in 1873. The phrase meant “to get going,” “let’s hit the trail”, and “start our day.”

This phrase took on more of a negative twist to say “get out of here” or “Leave” in the 1960s when Ray Charles sang the hit song “Hit the road, Jack”.

Example:

Today we still see the phrase Hit the road used both ways. To say “we have to go” in a positive way and to say “get out of here” in a negative way. Example sentences are:

(Positive) "Come on, let’s hit the road before rush hour traffic starts."

(Negative) "John was being loud and unpleasant so, the bartender told him to hit the road."

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