pull up stakes
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To leave a place and move elsewhere
Literally: to pull up tent stakes
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
FRANKFURT – At the height of the financial crisis in 2008 - 2009, it seemed as if Western banks would pull up their foreign stakes and go home, leaving financial markets much more fragmented along national lines.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
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 “pull up stakes” mean?
To leave a place and move elsewhere Literally: to pull up tent stakes
Is “pull up stakes” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.