back the wrong horse

English

Verb

back the wrong horse (third-person singular simple present backs the wrong horse, present participle backing the wrong horse, simple past and past participle backed the wrong horse)

1. To support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful.

   Synonyms: pick the wrong horse, choose the wrong horse

   Antonym: back the right horse

   • 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 32:

     This might mean that I waste vast amounts of time searching for a species only to find that it no longer counted when the new regime is in place. All that effort spent backing the wrong horse.

Translations

to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful

• Czech: vsadit na špatného koně
• Finnish: veikata väärää hevosta
• French: miser sur le mauvais cheval (fr)
• Hungarian: rossz lóra tesz
• Polish: stawiać na złego konia impf, postawić na złego konia pf
• Portuguese: apostar no cavalo errado

Further reading

• “back the wrong horse”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “back pick the right wrong horse” (US) / “back pick the right wrong horse” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “the wrong horse”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.