jump the gun

English

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

jump the gun (third-person singular simple present jumps the gun, present participle jumping the gun, simple past and past participle jumped the gun)

(sports) To begin a race too soon, before the starting gun goes off.
- 1961 Feb 24, "Sport: Higher & Farther," Time:
  Unperturbed when an overanxious opponent jumped the gun in the women's 60-yd. dash, willowy Wilma Rudolph exploded perfectly from the starting blocks.
(idiomatic) To act or begin too soon or without due caution.
- 1934 May 14, "Theatre: Pulitzer Pother," Time:
  Taking advantage of advance press releases, gabby Walter Winchell jumped the gun a full two weeks by announcing in his radio period and tabloid column that the 1933-34 prizewinner was Men in White by Sidney Kingsley.
- 2006 May 15, Rob Hughes, "Uneasiness in Italy as Scandal Widens," New York Times (retrieved 3 Sept. 2011):
  The former prime minister appears to be jumping the gun, pre-empting the legal process that is just beginning to dig deeper.
(idiomatic, finance, investing) To trade securities based on information that is not yet public; to trade on inside information.

Related terms

gun jumping

Translations

to begin a race too soon

Chinese:
Mandarin: 搶跑／抢跑 (zh) (qiǎngpǎo)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: ottaa varaslähtö
French: faire (fr) un faux départ (fr)
German: einen Frühstart hinlegen
Romanian: fura startul
Russian: соверши́ть фальста́рт pf (soveršítʹ falʹstárt)
Spanish: partir en falso
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to act without due caution

Arabic: يتسرع‎
Chinese:
Mandarin: 操之過急／操之过急 (zh) (cāozhīguòjí)
Dutch: te hard van stapel lopen
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: ottaa varaslähtö, hätäillä (fi)
French: agir hâtivement, agir prématurément, devancer l'appel, s'emballer (fr), brûler les étapes (fr)
German: überstürzen (de)
Italian: andare a testa bassa
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Polish: wychodzić przed szereg impf, wyjść przed szereg pf
Portuguese: precipitar (pt)
Russian: де́йствовать преждевре́менно impf (déjstvovatʹ preždevrémenno), поспешить (ru) pf (pospešitʹ), поторопиться (ru) pf (potoropitʹsja)
Spanish: precipitarse (es)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to trade securities based on yet undisclosed information