to get off one's high horse
5
8.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
bajar de su pedestal
- If he could get off his high horse, we might find a way to solve this issue together.
- just get off one's high horse
Examples
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Get off your high horse; it's obvious you've never tried to wait tables.
Blog text (4) -
I think both sides should get off their high horses and work out a legitimate solution.
Blog text (13) -
Oh, get off your high horse.
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You need to get off your high horse and come on back down to Earth, 'cause, baby, you black.
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Get real and get off your high horse.
Blog text (21) -
Just get off your high horse already.
Blog text (2) -
Get off your high horse and start treating other people with some common manners.
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Get off your high horses and publicly apologize for such a poor representation of your school.
Blog text (29) -
Get off your high horse; funny how suddenly there are responsibilities attached to rights and freedoms when it suits.
Blog text (11) -
It's time for you to get off your high horse and listen to what others have to say.
Synonyms
1
8.5
To stop acting like you are better than other people
1
9.0
To become less confident and not try as hard after problems
How Humble
1
3.6
- Informal
5
8.2
45
3.4
1
6.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
get + off + one + high + horse
The components 'get off' (dismount/stop) plus 'high' (superior) and 'horse' (vehicle) give a partial, metaphorical clue that someone should stop being in a superior position. However, the specific conventionalized meaning 'stop behaving self-righteously' relies on a culture-specific metaphor ('high horse') that is not fully predictable from the parts, so a B1 learner might guess the general sense but not reliably infer the exact idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
The idiom get off one's high horse comes from the image of a proud person sitting on a very tall horse and looking down at others. Telling someone to get off the high horse meant they should stop looking down on people, so it now means 'to stop behaving in a superior or self-righteous way'.