until the cows come home
3
8.5
- idiom
- Informal
:
hasta que las vacas vuelvan a casa
- I will argue with someone until the cows come home (and I do not have any cows).
- argue until the cows come home
You're going to lose fat until the cows come home and it's going to go super well.
- You're going to lose fat until the cows come home and it's going to go super well.
Examples
-
You can discuss the movie until the cows come home, but I still won't watch it.
-
I can talk about this until the cows come home, Doctor.
-
We'll win if it takes from now until the cows come home.
-
But, you know we can argue these points until the cows come home, and what does it matter?
Blog text (6) -
We can argue until the cows come home about how things should be, but none of that actually changes anything.
Blog text (20) -
We could argue semantics until the cows come home, but I am sure we all know what each other means.
Blog text (13) -
We can argue about stigma and sororities and what "real" publishing is until the cows come home, but the question most authors want answered is "Can I hope to make a living at this?"
Blog text (1) -
We can debate this topic until the cows come home.
-
They will keep practicing until the cows come home.
Synonyms
104
4.8
For a time with no set end
53
5.2
For all time without end
16
7.8
A time that lasts forever
8
6.8
Always from now on
3
8.9
Continues for all future time
1
9.5
For a very long time, often to say something will never happen
1
5.3
For a very long time with no clear end
For a very long time, possibly forever
For a very long time that never ends
To keep supporting something until the very end, no matter how long it takes
Antonyms
How Long
Surface Forms
Morphology
until + the + cows + come + home
The literal constituents ('until' + 'cows' + 'come home') clearly signal a temporal clause about cows returning, so a learner could infer a sense of extended time. However, the phrase's conventionalized exaggeration meaning 'for a very long time' or 'forever' is figurative and not fully predictable from the parts without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Until the cows come home comes from a simple farm picture: cows often eat grass far from the farm and only slowly walk back home at night. So saying it means 'for a very long time' or 'forever'.