straight from the horse's mouth
3
6.0
- idiom
- Informal
:
de primera mano
- The girl who wonders how to handle boys or the boy who wonders how to handle girls can get the scoop straight from the horse's mouth.
- straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak
Examples
-
I heard the news straight from the horse's mouth when the manager told me directly.
-
And she gets it straight from the horse's mouth.
-
So there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth.
Blog text (1) -
Straight from the horse's mouth, as it were.
Blog text (6) -
They want it straight from the horse's mouth.
Fiction book (1990) -
I'll set it up, 'cause he's gonna wanna hear Jack's story straight from the horse's mouth.
-
Attendees at the ABA Annual Meeting being held in San Francisco next month will be able to hear about the future of cloning straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
Academic text (1998) -
If you want to know the truth about the project, you should ask him; you'll get it straight from the horse's mouth.
-
The best way to understand the policy changes is to get information straight from the horse's mouth, directly from our HR department.
Synonyms
7
4.7
Directly from the person who knows the facts
1
3.5
Directly from the person, place, or event involved
Antonyms
How Direct
Surface Forms
Morphology
straight + from + the + horse's + mouth
While 'straight' and 'from' signal directness and origin, the component 'horse's mouth' is idiomatic and does not transparently indicate an authoritative source. A B1 learner who knows the literal words is unlikely to infer the intended meaning 'from the original or most reliable source' without prior exposure, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Straight from the horse's mouth may come from horse sellers who checked a horse's teeth in its mouth to know its true age and health. So, if you hear something straight from the horse's mouth, it means you heard it 'directly from the original or most reliable source'.