lay down the marker
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Set a standard or challenge for others to follow
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
đặt một tiêu chuẩn hoặc thử thách cho người khác theo dõi
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: place a marker on the ground
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company laid down the marker for innovation in the industry
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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “lay down the marker” mean?
Set a standard or challenge for others to follow Literally: place a marker on the ground
Is “lay down the marker” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.