shovel-ready

Meaning

Adjective

• (Of a building project) ready for immediate commencement of excavation and construction.
• Describing a project which is a candidate for economic stimulus spending, the one having a more immediate impact on the economy as opposed to the project requiring a great deal of time that must elapse for architecture, zoning, legal considerations or other factors before labor can be deployed on it.

Origin

• First used by Barack Obama during an interview with Meet the Press on 6 December 2008.