Etymology:
- Early recorded use refers to a type of 16th century horse race where everyone had to try to follow the erratic course of the lead horse, like wild geese have to follow their leader in formation. Mentioned in 1593 in the English poet Gervase Markham’s book about horsemanship. Also mentioned in the William Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 4 by the character Mercutio: "Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done; for thou hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five." Mentioned in Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy. Common use in the current may be the origin for the sport sense.
- 22 Views
Submitted on September 01, 2009
Additional definitions for 'wild-goose chase':
| wild-goose chase | A futile search, a fruitless errand; a useless and often lengthy pursuit. |
| Wild-Goose Chase | A useless hunt, a worthless chase, a futile search |
Translation
Find a translation for the wild-goose chase phrase in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Nearby phrases
Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to wild-goose chase
wild cherrywhat's sauce for the goose is sauce for…wild turkeywhat's good for the goose is good …wouldn't say boo to a goosethe old woman is plucking her goosewhat's good for the goose is good for t…walk on the wild sidewhat's good for the goose is good for t…wild horseswild horseswild cherrywild cherrywild turkey
How to pronounce this phrase?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this wild-goose chase definition to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"wild-goose chase." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/wild-goose-chase_8022>.
Powered by CITE.ME
Discuss this wild-goose chase phrase with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In