feet first
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to do something in a cautious or tentative manner
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
làm một việc gì đó một cách thận trọng hoặc rụt rè
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: entering a situation with one's feet first
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She approached the new job feet first, testing the waters before committing fully.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “feet first” mean?
to do something in a cautious or tentative manner Literally: entering a situation with one's feet first
Is “feet first” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.