gift horse
6
7.5
- noun
- /ɡɪft hɔrs/
- Informal
:
regalo que no se debe criticar
- Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
- never look a gift horse
- look a gift horse in the mouth
Examples
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Lamar encourages a protective cynicism in himself, but he's only human and knows he would be stupid to look this splendid gift horse in the mouth.
Fiction book (1992) -
He received a small gift from his friend, and he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
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Never look a gift horse in the mouth, dear heart.
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Not to look a gift horse in the mouth here, but, uh, mind if I ask you why?
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Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
Blog text (26) -
- Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
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Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
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You know, Mr. Otto, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
-
These ministers aren't looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Blog text (33) -
Mr. Spielberg, who had never directed Mr. Day-Lewis before, said of working with him: "I never once looked the gift horse in the mouth."
Blog text (7)
Surface Forms
Morphology
gift + horse
Knowing 'gift' and 'horse' only yields the literal idea of a horse given as a present; it does not lead a learner to the proverb's pragmatic meaning 'accept a gift without criticism', which derives from the specific practice of inspecting a horse's mouth to judge its value. The sense is culturally and historically based and therefore idiomatic and unpredictable for a B1 learner, making it opaque.
Etymology
The noun gift horse comes from the old saying 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth.' In earlier times people checked a horse's mouth to see its age, so that act was seen as judging a gift, and that's why gift horse means 'accept a gift without complaining'.