full steam ahead

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Related to full steam ahead: Full Speed Ahead, a far cry from, make a mark, here goes nothing, when push comes to shove

full steam ahead

1. adjective Moving or proceeding with the utmost speed, energy, or enthusiasm. With all the legal hurdles behind us, it was full steam ahead as we began construction of the new resort. It took a while for solar panels to catch on for ordinary consumers, but now it's full steam ahead.

2. adverb As quickly and efficiently as possible; with all possible energy and determination. We'll have to go full steam ahead if we want to get this done by the deadline! We're ready to go full steam ahead once the health inspector signs off.

See also: ahead, full, steam

full steam ahead

Fig. onward with determination. We started moving full steam ahead on the project. Full steam ahead! Let's see how fast this will go!

See also: ahead, full, steam

full steam ahead

If you go full steam ahead with a project, you start to do it with great energy and determination. Note: The following expressions refer to the use of steam to provide power for a machine, especially a steam engine. The Government was determined to go full steam ahead with its privatisation programme. The Prime Minister declared it was full steam ahead for a fourth term of government.

See also: ahead, full, steam

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

full steam (or speed) ahead

used to indicate that you should proceed with as much speed or energy as possible.

See also: ahead, full, steam

full steam/speed aˈhead

with as much speed or energy as possible: We were working full steam ahead to finish the project by the end of April.This expression refers to the order given on a ship by the captain to the engine room.

full speed/steam ahead!

Proceed with all possible rapidity and power. Both versions refer to the steam engine in ships and locomotives, as does with a full head of steam. “Full steam” meant a boiler that had developed maximum pressure. The terms became popular through an order attributed to David Glasgow Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay (Aug. 5, 1864): “Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead!” (Torpedoes in those days referred to mines.) They were transferred to nonmilitary enterprises soon afterward, but ironically one of them resurfaced in literal fashion more than a century later. In 1989 environmental activists from the Greenpeace movement sailed out among U.S. Navy boats that were testing torpedoes off the coast of Florida in order to impede what they perceived as a hazard to the surrounding ecology. The Greenpeace order of the day was, again, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead,” and the navy, either unwittingly or on purpose, collided with the Greenpeace vessel, which was severely damaged.