Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective idiomatic Located back at the
start , as after adead-end orfailure . - adverb idiomatic Back to the
start , as after adead-end orfailure .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase most likely originated from children's games such as hopscotch and snakes and ladders. The earliest recorded use of it in print is from a 1952 edition of the Economic Journal.
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Examples
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