lay the first stone

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"This is the government and legislature that have the ambition to lay the first stone and start building this blessed project," said Matteo Salvini, the infrastructure minister and head of the League coalition party.

From Reuters • Nov. 22, 2022

Christopher Wren said of the beautiful King’s College chapel, “that, if anybody would tell him where to lay the first stone, he would build such another.”

From The Voice of Science in Nineteenth-Century Literature Representative Prose and Verse by Various

"Now hand me up a branch," she cried, "and I will lay the first stone of our house!"

From The Eagle's Nest by Cartwright, S. E.

I go to lay the first stone of a house upon a Property I have—that house shall be my decoration.

From The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete by Forster, John

To lay the first stone of additional buildings, on part of the 80 acres belonging to the Asylum, the presence of the Prince of Wales was asked, and was very cordially given.

From Speeches and Addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888 by VII, Edward