start from scratch
start from the beginning
TRANSLATION
start from scratch = ganz von vorne anfangen --- GOOGLE INDEX start from scratch: approximately 1,300,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
But White House administrations never really START FROM SCRATCH, no matter how stark the change in policies from their predecessors is.
(New York Times)
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"I am very excited about the next Bond movie because we can START FROM SCRATCH again."
(actor Daniel Craig who took over the role of James Bond in 2006)
(New York Times)
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"I am very excited about the next Bond movie because we can START FROM SCRATCH again."
(actor Daniel Craig who took over the role of James Bond in 2006)
Did you
know?
start from scratch
idiom
- to start (again) from the very beginning
(Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
Scratch has been known since the middle of the 18th century as a sporting term for a line scratched on the ground that acted as a boundary line or starting point. The first example in the Oxford English Dictionary relates to cricket and indicated the crease, the line drawn in front of the stumps where the batsman stands.
But the term is much better known from boxing, or rather from bare-knuckle fighting, in reference to the line drawn across the ring to which the boxers are brought to begin their bout. This gave rise to expressions like to be up to scratch, to meet the required standard in something.
Scratch later came to be used as the name of any starting point for a race. The term came to be used in 'handicap races where weaker entrants were given a head start. For example, in cycling those who were given no advantage had the handicap of starting from scratch, while others started ahead of the line. Other sports, notably golf, have taken up the figurative use of scratch as the term for "with no advantage" or "starting from nothing."
The expression "start from scratch" has meanwhile been generalized and can be applied to any situation in which something is initiated from the beginning.
(sources: World Wide Words, The Origin and Phrase Finder, Allen's English Phrases)
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"I'll tell the boss that we have to start the project from scratch. He won't be happy about it."
idiom
- to start (again) from the very beginning
(Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Scratch has been known since the middle of the 18th century as a sporting term for a line scratched on the ground that acted as a boundary line or starting point. The first example in the Oxford English Dictionary relates to cricket and indicated the crease, the line drawn in front of the stumps where the batsman stands.
But the term is much better known from boxing, or rather from bare-knuckle fighting, in reference to the line drawn across the ring to which the boxers are brought to begin their bout. This gave rise to expressions like to be up to scratch, to meet the required standard in something.
Scratch later came to be used as the name of any starting point for a race. The term came to be used in 'handicap races where weaker entrants were given a head start. For example, in cycling those who were given no advantage had the handicap of starting from scratch, while others started ahead of the line. Other sports, notably golf, have taken up the figurative use of scratch as the term for "with no advantage" or "starting from nothing."
The expression "start from scratch" has meanwhile been generalized and can be applied to any situation in which something is initiated from the beginning.
(sources: World Wide Words, The Origin and Phrase Finder, Allen's English Phrases)
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"I'll tell the boss that we have to start the project from scratch. He won't be happy about it."
