Beat a dead horse

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Meaning

To persist pointlessly on a settled or hopeless issue, flogging it beyond sense.

Origin

From 19th-century Britain, tied to 'flogging a dead horse'; sailors' slang for fruitless work, as in an 1867 debate on a dead bill. Horses, vital yet mortal, made a grim image; an 1859 Dickens hint predates it.

Variants

  • Beat the horse

Usage Examples

  • Stop asking; he's not budging; you're beating a dead horse.
  • She beat a dead horse arguing that old point。
  • Beating a dead horse won't fix this crash.

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