|
|
Definition of Stalking-horse
1. Noun. A candidate put forward to divide the Opposition or to mask the true candidate.
2. Noun. Something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason.
Generic synonyms: Dissembling, Feigning, Pretence, Pretense
Specialized synonyms: Putoff
3. Noun. Screen consisting of a figure of a horse behind which a hunter hides while stalking game.
4. Noun. A horse behind which a hunter hides while stalking game.
Lexicographical Neighbors of Stalking-horse
Literary usage of Stalking-horse
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1850)
"Л man can scarce get a shoot at him with a stalking-horse. ... There a no getting
at some fowl without a stalking-horse, which must be some old jade trained ..."
2. A Glossary: Or, Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to by Robert Nares, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Thomas Wright (1872)
"As a stalking horse was used to decoy birds, that is sometimes also called a stale:
... To employ a stalking- horse, and to pursue the game by those means ..."
3. A Glossary: Or, Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to by Robert Nares, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Thomas Wright (1901)
"As a stalking horse was used to decoy birds, that is sometimes also called a stale:
... To employ a stalking- horse, and to pursue the game by those means; ..."
4. History of the Reformed Religion in France by Edward Smedley (1834)
"... of the commonalty, which has hitherto been most egregiously deceived, has
begun to discover that religion is employed as a stalking horse for faction. ..."
Other Resources:
