till the cows come home

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till the cows come home

For a very long, indefinite amount of time; forever. You can wait till the cows come home, but you'll never see that law passed in this country! My wife was talking on the phone with her sister till the cows came home last night!

See also: come, cow, home, till

until the cows come home

For a very long, indefinite amount of time; forever. You can wait until the cows come home, but you'll never see that law passed in this country! My wife was talking on the phone with her sister until the cows came home last night!

(un)til the cows come home

Rur. until the last; until very late. (Referring to the end of the day, when the cows come home to be fed and milked.) We were having so much fun that we decided to stay at the party until the cows camehome. Where've you been? Who said you could stay out till the cows come home?

till the cows come home

Also, when the cows come home. For a long time, as in You can keep asking till the cows come home, but you still may not go bungee-jumping. This term alludes to when the cows return to the barn for milking. [Late 1500s]

See also: come, cow, home, till

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

until the cows come home

If you say that you could do something until the cows come home, you mean that you could do it for a very long time. You could argue till the cows come home about whether we were right to take action. We could speculate till the cows come home, but we still won't know for sure why he did what he did.

till the cows come home

for an indefinitely long time. informal

See also: come, cow, home, till

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

till/until the ˈcows come home

(informal) for a long time, or for ever: You can talk till the cows come home, but you’ll never persuade me to go with you!

till the cows come home

Informal

For a very long time; indefinitely: They could argue till the cows come home and still not reach an agreement.

See also: come, cow, home, till

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

not until the cows come home

Not for a long time. Presumably the time referred to is when cows return to the barn for milking. The term has been around since the late sixteenth century. Beaumont and Fletcher’s play The Scornful Lady (1610) stated, “Kiss till the cow come home.”