Dictionary

back the wrong horse en · VERB

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful.
   • This might mean that I waste vast amounts of time searching for a species only to find that it no longer counted when the new regime is in place. All that effort spent backing the wrong horse. 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 32:

Forms

Antonyms

back the right horse

Synonyms

pick the wrong horse · choose the wrong horse

Translations (7)

fr miser sur le mauvais cheval (to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful) · pt apostar no cavalo errado (to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful) · hu rossz lóra tesz (to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful) · pl postawić na złego konia (to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful) · fi veikata väärää hevosta (to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful) · pl stawiać na złego konia (to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful) · cs vsadit na špatného koně (to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful)