Dictionary

until the cows come home en · X

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Possibly from the fact that cattle let out to pasture may be only expected to return for milking the next morning; thus, for example, a party that goes on “until the cows come home” is a very long one. Alternatively, the phrase may have a Scottish origin, and may derive from the fact that cattle in the Highlands are put out to graze on the common where grass is plentiful. They stay out for months before scarcity of food causes them to find their way home in the autumn for feeding (a pattern of seasonal grazing called transhumance).

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) For a very long period of time.
   • You can crank the engine until the cows come home, but it won’t start without fuel.
   • Middleton, up to that time, July 1952, had been prepared to give the lovable old gentleman the benefit of every possible doubt and talk to him until the cows had come home and gone to bed. 1996, Sam Falle, My Lucky Life: In War, Revolution, Peace and Diplomacy, Lewes, East Sussex: Book Guild, →ISBN, page 80:
   • But I could quote from Animal Warmth and Up On All Fours until the cows come home. I could quote until the cows came home about the cows not coming home. 2003, Clive James, “The Meaning of Recognition”, in Australian Book Review, numbers 248–257, page 27:
   • Now I can't stop lawyers from calling me names and saying I am guilty of judicial misconduct and that I am prejudiced, and this, that and the other thing, and you can keep that up until the cows come home; that is all right, and I take no umbrage at it. 1952 March 10, Justice Felix Frankfurter (dissenting), Sacher v. United States 343 U.S. 1, Supreme Court of the United States, pages 69–70
   • Good Morrow, / Drinke tell the Cow come home, 'tis all pay'd boyes. [1609–1612, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Captaine”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, page 63, column 1:
   • Anders and his wife had bought a house in an exclusive Cincinnati community where they'd partied with the wealthy elite, "hobnobbing" until the cows had come home. 2015, Karen Rose, Alone in the Dark (The Cincinnati Series; book 2), London: Headline, →ISBN:
   • She could list Buck's good qualities from now until the cows came home. If the cows came home. If she waited for him to return until the cows came home, she'd never see any of them again. 2012, Darlene Franklin, A Ranger's Trail (Texas Trails: A Morgan Family series), Chicago, Ill.: Moody Publishers, →ISBN:
   • Miſs, if I had ſaid ſo, I ſhould have told a Fib; I warrant you lay a Bed till the Cows came home: But, Miſs, ſhall I cut you a little Cruſt now my Hand is in? 1738, Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “Dialogue II”, in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, According to the Most Polite Mode and Method Now Used at Court, and in the Best Companies of England. In Three Dialogues, London: Printed for B[enjamin] Motte, and C. Bathurst […], →OCLC, page 158:
   • If the Duke [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington] will but do what he unquestionably can do, and propose a Catholic Bill with securities, he may be Minister [in Robert Peel's cabinet], as they say in Scotland "until the cows come home." 1829, The Times, London:
   • Come my brave Man of War, trace out thy darling, / As you my learned Council, ſit and turn boyes, / Kiſs till the Cow come home, kiſs cloſe, kiſs cloſe knaves. / My Modern Poet, thou ſhalt kiſs in couplets. [c. 1613–1616, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Scornful Lady, a Comedy”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 68, column 1:
   • If there be any lazy Fellow, any that cannot away with Work, any that would wallow in Pleaſures, he is haſty to be prieſted. And, when he is made one, and hath gotten a Benefice, he conſorts with his Neighbour Prieſts, who are altogether given to Pleaſures; and then both he, and they, live, not like Chriſtians, but like Epicures; drinking, eating, feaſting, and revelling, till the Cow come Home, as the saying is; [...] [1610, Alexander Cooke, “Pope Joane”, in William Oldys, editor, The Harleian Miscellany: […], volume IV, London: T[homas] Osborne, […], published 1745, →OCLC, page 125:
   • John [Carradine] and I became quite close, we worked in several movies together. He could recite Shakespeare ’til the cows came home [laughs], and he had a heart as big as outdoors. 2014, Tom Weaver, “Robert Dix”, in Earth vs. the Sci-Fi Filmmakers: 20 Interviews, Jefferson, N.C.; London: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 77:
   • Near-synonym: until one is blue in the face

Forms

Coordinates

all day

Deriveds

until the cows freeze over

Relateds

a cold day in hell · that'll be the day · at latter Lammas · when hell freezes over · when pigs fly · donkey's years

Synonyms

until one is blue in the face

Translations (16)

tr eşek sudan gelene kadar (For a very long time) · fr aussi longtemps qu'on veut (For a very long time) · fi maailman tappiin asti (For a very long time) · pl ile wlezie (For a very long time) · mi ki konā (For a very long time) · it tutto il giorno (For a very long time) · hu sohanapjáig (For a very long time) · pl długo (For a very long time) · de bis zum Sankt-Nimmerleins-Tag (For a very long time) · it fino a domani (For a very long time) · is fram í rauðan dauðann (For a very long time) · pl do usranej śmierci (For a very long time) · hu ítéletnapig (For a very long time) · la ad calendas graecas (For a very long time) · ga go brách na bréithe (For a very long time) · nl tot sint-juttemis (For a very long time)