three-legged mare
- noun
- Offensive
:
yegua de tres patas
- Some saw the project as a three-legged mare, unlikely to ever succeed.
Examples
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The three-legged mare struggled to keep up with the other horses.
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Even with a three-legged mare, she managed to reach her destination.
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Despite the odds, he chose to ride the three-legged mare to prove his determination.
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Is that a three-legged mare in the field?
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Even with a three-legged mare, she managed to reach the finish line in the race.
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Some saw the project as a three-legged mare, unlikely to ever succeed in this competitive market.
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The three-legged mare struggled to keep up with the pace of the other horses during the competition.
How Many Legs
Surface Forms
Morphology
three-legged + mare
The phrase is directly compositional: 'three-legged' (having three legs) + 'mare' (female horse) yields the literal meaning 'a horse with three legs', which a B1 learner who knows the constituents can derive. Any metaphorical uses (e.g. to mean handicapped or imperfect) are straightforward extensions of this literal meaning rather than unpredictable idiomatic senses, so the expression is transparent.
Etymology
Three-legged mare may come from the simple picture of a three-legged mare — a horse missing a leg that would be slow, unsteady, and hard to ride. That's why people began calling something 'a three-legged mare' when it is damaged, imperfect, or likely to fail.