先发制人

    Steal是“偷”，march是“行军”。Steal a march on是什么意思？请看对话：

    A: Have you bought stocks in the company I recommended last week?

    B: I regret that I haven’t. Their price has risen by almost 15 percent. What’s the deal?

    A: The company plans to steal a march on its competitors by offering a similar smartphone at a lower price.

    Note: This idiom means “to spoil someone’s plans and get an advantage over them by doing something sooner or better than them.” This phrase derives from the military manoeuvre of moving troops secretly, in order to gain an advantage. It has been used since at least the early 18th century, when it was cited in the London Gazette in 1716. In military terms it was much more advantageous to squeeze in an extra, surprise march which would advance your troops to a position many miles ahead of where the enemy would expect them to be.