gift horse
Meanings
noun
- An apparent gift, that has substantial associated costs or drawbacks, especially a gift that does not fit perfectly with the recipient's wants or needs.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From the economics of horse ownership, in which an aging horse of declining value continues to require feeding and stabling. Possibly influenced by the proverb don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Related words
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.