jump-start

[ juhmp-stahrt ]

/ ˈdʒʌmpˌstɑrt /

Also jump. Automotive. the starting of an internal-combustion engine that has a discharged or weak battery by means of booster cables.

to give a jump-start to: to jump-start an engine.

to enliven or revive: to jump-start a sluggish economy.

Origin of jump-start

First recorded in 1975–80

Within his own administration, Obama had to jump-start a policy that had effectively ground to a halt in 2011.

Congress Cooperates, Obama Pushes Hard, and Closing Gitmo Has a Chance |Daniel Klaidman |December 12, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
But Obama has to test himself as well and put some smart compromises on the table to jump-start serious negotiations.

Iran, Try Peace or Get War |Leslie H. Gelb |September 24, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
But the idea that tax reform will jump-start an economy suffering from the after-effects of a cyclical downturn is nonsense.

Can Tax Reform Jump-Start the Economy? |Justin Green |October 16, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
“They said they were going to ‘make me talk,’ that they were going to ‘jump-start me like a car,’” he shivered.

Assad’s House of Torture |Anna Therese Day |October 14, 2012 |DAILY BEAST

Summers and his economic team had an unenviable job, figuring out a way to jump-start the economy after the collapse of 2008.

Who'll Replace Larry Summers? |The Daily Beast |September 22, 2010 |DAILY BEAST
I'd totaled about three hours of sleep, and even three cups of the Turk's caffeine mud failed to jump-start my brain.

Little Brother |Cory Doctorow

jump-start

to start the engine of (a car) by connecting it to another engine with jump leads or (of a car) to start in this way

the act of starting a car in this way