Skip to main content

Difference between Get the jump on someone and Give someone a jump

get the jump on someone—(coll.) gain an advantage over a person:

  • Each of these new developers hopes to get the jump on the other by adding more square footage to the units.

give someone a jump —(coll.)

1. (also: give someone the jumps) make smb. frightened:

  • Someone had skinned a dead calf and left it on the track, and it gave me a jump.

2. (also: give someone a jump-start) help a person start his stalled car:

  • My car wouldn’t start after work. The security guard gave me a jump.