set foot

set foot in (some place)

To enter some location. It wasn't me—I've never set foot in that building before! If you ever set foot in my house again, I'll have you arrested.
See also: foot, set

set foot on (something or some place)

To physically board something or travel to some place. As soon as I set foot on that train, I knew I'd never see my hometown again. It was her very first time setting foot on foreign shores.
See also: foot, on, set
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

set foot

1. set foot in. Enter, as in I'll never set foot in this house again.
2. set foot on. Step on, as in We were so happy to set foot on dry land. [c. 1600]
See also: foot, set
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • set foot in
  • set foot in (some place)
  • set foot in/on something
  • setting
  • not set foot somewhere
  • be hand and foot to (one)
  • on foot
  • foot up
  • foot
  • fleet of foot
References in periodicals archive
He said: "Obviously the main moment was when I set foot on the seventh continent.
The Duchess of Cambridge set foot on Australian soil for the first time, to the delight of around 200 locals and travellers, as she jetted home from her Diamond Jubilee tour with the Duke.
BEIRUT: Head of the Union for Lebanon Massoud Ashkar said on Friday Lebanon has been going through a political vacuum "for the past 18 years and not since the end of [former President Emile] Lahoud's term expired on November 23." "Lebanon has been suffering from a political vacuum ever since Syria set foot in our country," Ashkar said during a political meeting organized by the Rmeil district of the Free Patriotic Movement.
The way we view the solar system has changed since the last time humans set foot on the surface of the moon in 1972.
As pope, he set a new high standard in diplomacy, openness, and outreach; he was the first pope to set foot in a synagogue or a monastery, and traveled the globe--in his own words, he wished to be like Paul the Apostle, always on the move spreading the Good Word.
Navy sailor who served on an ammunition ship during the war but never actually set foot on Vietnamese soil.
Brownback has been one of the most incorrigible, arrogant, obdurate, and aggressive opponents of sensible immigration reform ever since he first set foot inside the Senate building.
As even Sheikh Mohammed found out last week with his multi-million pound flop Jalil, you never quite know what you've got with the juveniles until they set foot on a racecourse.
No sooner do you set foot on American ground than you are stunned by a kind of tumult," or can our nation exist, as conservative columnists Charles Krauthammer and George Will have suggested, as a "check-off" democracy, where most citizens live their lives largely ignoring politics, rising up at the ballot box only when riled by grossly offensive government policy, repugnant politician behavior, or an external threat?
"Players will only be cup-tied if they actually set foot on the pitch during the game."
As sex seems to be the only reason you'd set foot in either joint, and as you won't get past the door in either place without first coughing up some money, the distinction here seems pretty subtle, bordering on invisible.
Hans Schwarz locates Loehe within the ecclesiastical and theological movements of the nineteenth century and notes that Loehe did as much as Muhlenberg to influence Lutheranism in North America although he never set foot on these shores, probably because he thought a trip would be too expensive.
For people who may have never set foot on this campus, it means a whole lot to them.
Some schools targeted by the ride have already told Soulforce not to come, and a few have even threatened to arrest riders if they set foot on campus.
It is estimated that only 180,000 people have ever set foot in the Antarctic.