🐴 Horse
"Flogging a dead horse"
Meaning
Wasting effort on something that cannot succeed.
About the horse
Horses have long been work and racing animals, so their idioms describe effort, priorities, and stubborn resistance.
Example sentence
Arguing with the broken radio was flogging a dead horse; it needed new batteries.
Test yourself
Which idiom means...
Wasting effort on something that cannot succeed.
More horse idioms
HorseIdiom
"Straight from the horse's mouth"
Information received directly from the person who knows the truth.
HorseIdiom
"Dark horse"
A person who surprises everyone by doing very well.
HorseIdiom
"Hold your horses"
Wait a moment; do not rush.
HorseIdiom
"Eat like a horse"
To eat a lot.
HorseIdiom
"A horse of a different color"
A completely different matter.
HorseIdiom
"Flogging a dead horse"
Wasting effort on something that cannot succeed.