- pull up stakes
- pull up stakes1. Lit. to pull up tent stakes to take down a tent in preparation to leaving. •
Let's pull up stakes and head home before the storm hits.
2. Fig. to end one's ties to a particular place; to get ready to move away from a place where one has lived or worked for a long time. •Even after all these years, pulling up stakes is easier than you think.
•It's time to pull up stakes and move on.
* * *{v. phr.}, {informal} To leave the place where you have been living. * /We are going to pull up stakes and move to California./ * /The Jones family pulled up stakes three times in two years./
Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.