Question

Pull Up Stakes to leave your home, job, or country and move to another location looking for something better

Accepted Answer

After I finish this project, I'm pulling up stakes and moving to New Hampshire. This has been a well-used saying since at least the 17th century. Stakes (pointed pieces of wood) were often driven into the ground as markers to show the boundaries of an area of land. When you went out and pulled up the stakes, it often meant you were moving to a new location. This expression now refers to making a big move in one's life. When a circus left one town for another, the stakes that held the circus tents were pulled up, too.

Idiom	Pull Up Stakes
Example	After I finish this project, I'm pulling up stakes and moving to New Hampshire.
Meaning	to leave your home, job, or country and move to another location looking for something better
Origin	This has been a well-used saying since at least the 17th century. Stakes (pointed pieces of wood) were often driven into the ground as markers to show the boundaries of an area of land. When you went out and pulled up the stakes, it often meant you were moving to a new location. This expression now refers to making a big move in one's life. When a circus left one town for another, the stakes that held the circus tents were pulled up, too.

Stakes Moving Move Pulled Circus Pull I Finish