back the wrong horse
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English[edit]
Verb[edit]
back the wrong horse (third-person singular simple present backs the wrong horse, present participle backing the wrong horse, simple past and past participle backed the wrong horse)
- To support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful.
- Synonyms: pick the wrong horse, choose the wrong horse
- Antonym: back the right horse
- 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 32:
- This might mean that I waste vast amounts of time searching for a species only to find that it no longer counted when the new regime is in place. All that effort spent backing the wrong horse.
Translations[edit]
to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful
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Further reading[edit]
- “back the wrong horse”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
- “back pick the right wrong horse” (US) / “back pick the right wrong horse” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
- “the wrong horse”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.