English Explanatory Dictionary

let sleeping dogs lie

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To leave things as they are; especially, to avoid restarting or rekindling an old argument; to leave disagreements in the past.

Pronunciation

En-au-let sleeping dogs lie.ogg

Word forms

let sleeping dogs lie lets sleeping dogs lie letting sleeping dogs lie

Etymology

Attestations exist from the 1820s and 1830s. Earlier ones may be discoverable with better corpus searches. The metaphor is self-evident and is typical of folk wisdom. To choose to pass by a sleeping dog without stirring it is comparable to letting a hornets' nest or beehive be, not poking a bear, and so on.

Synonyms

let it be leave it be let things be leave things be let it alone leave it alone let things alone leave things alone let bygones be bygones let nature take its course

Related words

let a sleeping dog lie let the sleeping dogs lie dogsleep dog sleep lie doggo agree to disagree benign neglect hands off sleeping giant
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