step on it

An automobile accelerator is usually a foot pedal, so stepping down harder increases the acceleration.

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step on it (third-person singular simple present steps on it, present participle stepping on it, simple past and past participle stepped on it)

1. (automotive) To drive fast; to step on the accelerator.

   If I step on it, I can still arrive on time.

   • 1959 July, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 482:

     But a signal check at Tollerton was not expected and the driver had to "step on it" thereafter, to reach Darlington, as we did, dead on time.

2. (idiomatic) To act quickly.

   They'll have to step on it to finish the paper tonight.

• bug out
• burn rubber
• floor it
• haul ass
• make like a tree
• make tracks
• pedal to the metal
• take off

• set point, pointset, pointest, neti pots, stonepit, nitespot, nepotist, Poinsett, setpoint