From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpound/hit the pavementpound/hit the pavementto work very hard to get something, especially a job, by going to a lot of different places He spent the next six months pounding the pavement in search of a job. → pavement
Examples from the Corpus
pound/hit the pavement• Or pull out your own wheels and hit the pavement.• It began to rain when she was half way along Gloucester Road, big spots like buttons hitting the pavement.• For months, Garcia pounded the pavement for jobs.• When he's not on the track competing, you will find Paul out pounding the pavements.• And if my next fifteen years are spent pounding the pavement in search of a job without a handset in it - too bad.• The brown paper bag tied with white string hit the pavement, split and corn went all over the place.• He turned and saw a lithe figure in a track suit pounding the pavement towards him.• I wrenched the wheel round in a tight turn, hitting the pavement as I went. 