willing horse
- noun
:
caballo de carga
- He became known as the willing horse of the team, never refusing a new task.
Examples
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Jessica is always a willing horse when extra help is needed around the office.
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Don't overload the willing horse, or you risk burning them out.
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She is a willing horse in our community.
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John is always the willing horse during group projects.
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He became known as the willing horse of the team, never refusing a new task.
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Jessica is always a willing horse when extra help is needed around the office.
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John is always the willing horse during group projects.
Synonyms
710
2.2
A person who offers to help without being paid
15
3.7
A person who helps strangers in trouble without expecting payment
3
6.1
A person who is very willing to do extra work and works harder than others
Antonyms
How Willing
Surface Forms
Morphology
willing + horse
The adjective 'willing' clearly conveys readiness or eagerness, but using 'horse' to mean a person who works hard or takes on tasks is a figurative/metaphorical extension that is not automatically obvious to a B1 learner. The combination therefore has a visible link to the constituents (willing + an animal metaphor for work) but relies on a less transparent metaphor and a rare collocation, so prior exposure helps.
Etymology
Willing horse may come from the image of a horse that is willing to pull a heavy cart and keeps working without complaining. So, it now describes a person who is 'eager' and always ready 'to help' or take on 'extra work'.