keep the ball rolling —(also: keep the wheels turning) keep an activity, process, etc. going:
- The first step is to feed your body healthy food so you’ll have the energy to keep the ball rolling.
keep the pot boiling—
1. earn enough money to provide one’s livelihood:
- Not only has doing portraits of people kept the pot boiling, it has also led to my meeting some famous people.
2. = keep the ball rolling:
- We will keep the pot boiling on this until David is released because this is a question of basic democratic rights.
Note: Neither expression correlates in meaning with the phrase keep the home fires burning—keep things at home going as usual (while smb. is away):
- These women kept the home fires burning as they patiently waited until the wheels of the war stopped turning and their husbands were home.