get one's marching orders
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to be dismissed or told to leave
Literally: receive orders to march
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
After a poor performance review, he got his marching orders
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 “get one's marching orders” mean?
to be dismissed or told to leave Literally: receive orders to march
Is “get one's marching orders” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.