dog who caught the tire
- idiom
- Informal
:
perro que atrapó la rueda
- When her business idea succeeded, she realized she was the dog who caught the tire and didn’t know what to do next.
Examples
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Winning the major contract left him feeling like the dog who caught the tire.
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After landing the lead role in the play, she felt like the dog who caught the tire.
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Don't be a dog who caught the tire!
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Be a dog who caught the tire!
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After winning the championship, he felt like the dog who caught the tire and wasn't sure what to do next.
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She was thrilled to be promoted but now felt like the dog who caught the tire, unsure of her next steps.
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When he received a hefty bonus, he became the dog who caught the tire and was uncertain about how to spend it.
Synonyms
2
5.8
A person who has very good luck
A person who finally gets what they wanted but does not know what to do next
Antonyms
How Prepared
Surface Forms
Morphology
dog + who + catch + the + tire
The literal combination yields only 'a dog that caught a tire,' which a B1 learner who knows the words would interpret literally; the intended sense of unexpectedly achieving success and then not knowing what to do is not derivable from 'dog' + 'caught' + 'tire'. This meaning appears idiomatic and culture-specific rather than compositionally built from the constituents, so learners would not predict it without prior exposure.
Etymology
The expression dog who caught the tire comes from the image of a dog chasing a rolling tire and then, when it finally grabs the tire, looking puzzled because it does not know what to do next. So the phrase means 'someone who suddenly succeeds or gets what they wanted but is not sure what to do next'.