Meaning
For a very long but indefinite time; effectively forever. Usually hyperbole, and often with an undertone of futility, applied to something that could go on endlessly without producing the desired result: you can argue about that till the cows come home. The image is of cattle unhurriedly ambling home from pasture at their own pace. Informal and colloquial. Very often in the pattern you can X till the cows come home, implying X is futile. Nothing to do with cows returning at dusk specifically - the point is simply that they take their time. Regional use: British in origin; now universal English.
Origin
An old English idiom. The Phrase Finder's earliest print citation is John Eliot's French textbook Ortho-epia Gallica (1593): 'I am tied by the foote till the Cow come home' - note the singular cow in the early uses; why the phrase later shifted to the plural is unknown. Wiktionary's earliest is Alexander Cooke's Pope Joane (1610), 'till the Cow come Home, as the saying is' - the tag 'as the saying is' showing it was already proverbial - with Beaumont and Fletcher's The Scornful Lady (c. 1613-16) and Swift (1738) following. A Times piece of 1829 records a Scottish association. Popular glosses - cows returning for milking at day's end, or Highland cattle coming down from summer pasture only in autumn - are explanations of the image, not documented points of origin.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- til the cows come home
- till the cow come home
- until the cows come home
Usage Examples
- You can polish that draft till the cows come home, but the editor will still want changes.
- He would talk about his classic motorbike till the cows come home if you let him.
- We could debate the seating plan till the cows come home and still not please everyone.