- wild-goose chase
- noun Date: circa 1595 a complicated or lengthy and usually fruitless pursuit or search
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
wild-goose chase
Look at other dictionaries:
Wild goose chase — Wild Wild, a. [Compar. {Wilder}; superl. {Wildest}.] [OE. wilde, AS. wilde; akin to OFries. wilde, D. wild, OS. & OHG. wildi, G. wild, Sw. & Dan. vild, Icel. villr wild, bewildered, astray, Goth. wilpeis wild, and G. & OHG. wild game, deer; of… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
wild goose chase — wild goose chases also wild goose chase N COUNT: usu on N If you are on a wild goose chase, you waste a lot of time searching for something that you have little chance of finding, because you have been given incorrect information. Harry wondered… … English dictionary
wild goose chase — wild goose .chase n a situation where you are looking for something that does not exist or that you are very unlikely to find, so that you waste a lot of time ▪ It looks like they ve sent us on a wild goose chase … Dictionary of contemporary English
wild goose chase — A wild goose chase is a waste of time time spent trying to do something unsuccessfully … The small dictionary of idiomes
wild-goose chase — n. any search, pursuit, or endeavor regarded as being as futile as trying to catch a wild goose by chasing it … English World dictionary
wild-goose chase — wild′ goose′ chase n. a wild or absurd search for something nonexistent or unobtainable; a senseless pursuit • Etymology: 1585–95 … From formal English to slang
wild-goose chase — wild goose ,chase noun count an attempt to find something that does not exist or that you are very unlikely to discover … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
wild goose chase — 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 … Etymology dictionary
wild goose chase — ► NOUN ▪ a foolish and hopeless search for or pursuit of something unattainable … English terms dictionary
wild-goose chase — noun the fruitless pursuit of something unattainable • Hypernyms: ↑pursuit, ↑pursuance, ↑quest * * * noun Etymology: so called from the characteristic flight of wild geese in a group spaced at intervals behind a leader that sets the course 1.… … Useful english dictionary
wild goose chase — A wild goose chase is a waste of time time spent trying to do something unsuccessfully. (Dorking School Dictionary) *** If someone is sent on a wild goose chase, they waste their time looking for something that there is little chance… … English Idioms & idiomatic expressions
