Meaning
Obnoxious, faulty, badly behaved, or forever interfering. Obscure and dated Regional use: United States.
Origin
A dated American reference to the disruptive goat in R. F. Outcault's hugely popular Hogan's Alley and The Yellow Kid newspaper comics of the 1890s. By 1905 a person who was always butting in could be compared with Hogan's goat; later forms described anything failed, inferior, smelly, or dead. The allusion faded as public memory of the comic receded.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- deader than Hogan's goat
- Hogan's goat
- wouldn't know it from Hogan's goat
Usage Examples
- Quit barging into every committee meeting like Hogan's goat.
- After a winter in the weeds, the old mower was deader than Hogan's goat.