first come, first served

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first come, first served

1. (idiomatic) People will be dealt with in the order they arrive.
   • 2020 January 2, Philip Haigh, “Is there relief to congestion along Castlefield Corridor?”, in Rail, page 22:

     This complicated situation means that strategically managing services through the central Manchester area and beyond is not possible for signallers in the Greater Manchester area, and trains are invariably dealt with on a 'first come, first served' basis.

• first-come-first-served

• the early bird gets the worm

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 99.

first come, first served (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of first-come-first-served

• FIFO