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

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

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

But there were still such multitudes, that it was with great difficulty I got through them, to lay the first stone.

From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 10 — Lives and Letters by Mee, Arthur

I called at seven a.m. on David Mocatta, the architect, and informed him that we should lay the first stone at eight o'clock.

From Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, Volume I Comprising Their Life and Work as Recorded in Their Diaries From 1812 to 1883 by Loewe, Louis