Where did the expression wild goose chase come from?
Where did the expression wild goose chase come from?
The idiom wild goose chase was first written down by William Shakespeare, in the play Romeo and Juliet in 1595: “Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five.” Interestingly, the term wild goose chase was first …
What’s another way of saying wild goose chase?
In this page you can discover 17 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for wild-goose-chase, like: meaningless chase, foolish quest, bootless errand, hopeless quest, fool-s-errand, failure, hopeless case, snipe-hunt, waste-of-time, lost-cause and merry chase.
What is an example of a wild goose chase?
I had been on a wild goose chase this whole morning searching them in the entire house. Jonathan looking for his lost phone may be on a wild goose chase. Michel ends up on a wild goose chase trying to find a rental house of her dream.
WHO said wild goose chase in Romeo and Juliet?
Mercutio
Mercutio is using it in the sense that Romeo is riding in a kind of horse race popular in Elizabethan England. A “wild goose chase” was a race in which horses followed a lead horse at a set distance, that looked like wild geese flying in formation.
What is a bootless errand?
An unprofitable or futile message.
How do you use wild goose chase in a sentence?
the fruitless pursuit of something unattainable.
- No, he led me on a wild-goose chase.
- We wasted all day a wild-goose chase.
- Some government officials sent reporters a wild-goose chase.
- It turned out to be a wild-goose chase.
- Some government officials sent reporters on a wild-goose chase.
- Hah!
- She feels what Mr.
What does lost as a goose mean?
Proverbs. Speech. Tales and legends that referenced another book from 1930 that used the “loose as a goose” saying.) That book didn’t explain the origin and I started thinking it might be related to the phrase loosey-goosey, which also means “relaxed” or maybe “disorganized or chaotic.”
What does Shakespeare’s phrase break the ice mean?
‘ ‘Break the ice’ began its life as a metaphor. It means to do some small thing that will dispel the awkwardness of a situation before the real business of that situation begins.
Who wins the battle of wits in Romeo and Juliet?
Romeo and Juliet: Act 2, Scene 4 Translation.
What does the phrase a wild goose chase mean?
“Wild goose chase” is an idiom, which is a saying that has a meaning unrelated to the actual words in the phrase. A wild goose chase — literally — would mean chasing after a wild goose.
What is another word for “wild goose chase”?
Synonyms for wild goose chase include fool’s errand, lost errand, sleaveless errand, snipe hunt, fruitless, futile, useless, vain, unproductive and unsuccessful 26. Does seeking to know God’s will with certainty sometimes seem like, well, a wild goose chase?
What is the origin of wild goose chase?
Word Origin and History for wild goose chase. n. 1592, first attested in “Romeo and Juliet,” where it evidently is a figurative use of an earlier (but unrecorded) literal sense in reference to a kind of follow-the-leader steeplechase.
What is the plural of wild goose chase?
The plural form of wild goose chase is wild goose chases. What does goose chase mean? A wild goose chase is a hopeless pursuit or foolish search after something that is in fact, pointless or unattainable.
