marching orders, get one's

marching orders, get one's idiom
Be ordered to move on or proceed; also, be dismissed from a job. For example, The sales force got their marching orders yesterday, so now they'll be on the road with the new product, or It's too bad about Jack—the boss gave him his marching orders Friday. This expression originally alluded to a military command. [Colloquial; late 1700s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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