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

After dinner, her eyes red with weeping, she went to the convent to try and soften Gerard, and lay the first stone at least of a reconciliation.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Reade, Charles

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

The master mason who helped to lay the first stone assisted in fixing the last in the lantern.

From Old and New London Volume I by Thornbury, Walter