Dictionary

mare's fart en · NOUN

Etymology

From mare + s + fart. A nickname stemming from the unpleasant smell of the plant's leaves. Primarily used by cattle farmers in North Shropshire and Cheshire.

Meanings

1. A nickname for a type of flower. ▸ Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris).
   • [...] ragwort posed the principle weed problem, many fields being heavily infested. The still-used local [name] of mare’s fart in adjacent North Shropshire and Cheshire [...] suggest how loathed the malodorous foliage is by cattle farmers. 1998, Mabey, Richard, Flora Britannica - The Concise Edition, page 16:
   • Today I want to talk about a stimulating plant that is known by such flattering aliases as “Stinking Ninny” and “Mare’s Fart". It's called ragwort, and although it is a flower, it's definitely not the type you want to give your wife on Valentine's Day. 2018, Machinery Industry Press, English Proficiency Test, page 311:
   • Ragwort’s other [name] of ‘mare’s fart’ refer[s] to the sharp smell of the leaves, caused by alkaloids. These can cause liver damage to horses, but only if fed dried in fodder, as the sharp taste of the fresh plant deters horses in the field. 2016, Hoyland, Graham, Walking through spring : an English journey, page 226:
2. A nickname for a type of flower. ▸ A nickname for any of several other types of flowers, including the fleabane and dandelion.
   • Dating from the middle of the last century, the expression ‘like a fart in a colander’ is still in common use to indicate restlessness or any flustered aimless activity. So too, in some dialects the traditional name mare’s fart is still used for the plant otherwise known as fleabane. 1996, McDonald, James, The Wadsworth dictionary of obscenity & taboo, page 50:
   • The dandelion was long popularly known as the ‘pissabed’ because of its supposed diuretic properties, and other names in everyday use included mare’s fart, [...] open arse and bum-towel. One or two of these earthy appellations may unwittingly survive in English yet. 2003, Bryson, Bill, A Short History of Nearly Everything, page 435:
3. (idiomatic, in the negative, vulgar) Something of no value, importance, or consequence whatsoever; a thing utterly not cared about.
   • I had no place to go, no one within twenty leagues who gave a brood mare’s fart if I lived […] 2002, Feintuch, David, The King, page 351:
   • Andrew Lark deliberately avoided looking down at Nona, for that might suggest to her that he cared as much as a trotting mare’s fart what he thought of her fears. 1974, Horgan, Paul, Far from Cibola, page 16:
   • Your lamentation grieves me. See here, in the name of a mare’s fart! If my horse has fallen, why should I be blamed? 1956, Heinrich Wittenwile, “The Courtship”, in Ring, page 7:
   • See also: give a damn, give a tinker's damn, give a rat's arse, give a fig

Forms

Synonyms

St. James Wort · dog standard