Meaning
Talk at exhausting length, especially with little pause for anyone else. Informal and humorous. Singular and plural leg forms both occur. Regional use: Chiefly United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Origin
This is comic impossibility rather than a literal anecdote: the talker is imagined as so persistent that even a sturdy animal loses a leg. Related hyperboles involving a horse were being called old or vulgar by 1808, while donkey forms are documented in the 19th century. No individual inventor is known.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Talk a donkey's hind leg off
- Talk the hind leg off a horse
- Talk the hind legs off a donkey
Usage Examples
- Leave Mo beside the buffet and he will talk the hind leg off a donkey.
- The caller could talk a donkey's hind leg off, but never quite answered my question.