to make a run for it, to bolt
Quando a polícia chegou, os ladrões deram no pé.
When the police arrived, the thieves made a run for it.
The picture is the body's own: when you flee you "give it in the foot," putting your feet to work to get away fast. The expression is old in Portuguese — Antônio Delicado already recorded the proverb Dar no pé, que tempo é in his collection of Portuguese adages of 1651.
Source: História do Riso.
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