Word.ws English Dictionary

drove a coach and horses through

drove a coach and horses through is the simple past of drive a coach and horses through.

Meaning of drive a coach and horses through

Verb

drive a coach and horses through (third-person singular simple present drives a coach and horses through, present participle driving a coach and horses through, simple past drove a coach and horses through, past participle driven a coach and horses through)

  1. (UK, idiomatic) To spoil, break or render ineffective (a rule, plan or agreement).
    • These findings drive a coach and horses through the claim that Wonga has been lending responsibly.2014 October 2, Emma Dunkley, George Parker, quoting Pat McFadden, “Wonga to write off £220m of loans owed by customers”, in The Financial Times
    Synonyms:
    nonconform

Questions about drove a coach and horses through

What is drove a coach and horses through the simple past of?
Drove a coach and horses through is the simple past of drive a coach and horses through.

Words near drove a coach and horses through in the dictionary

  1. drouthiest
  2. drouthiness
  3. drouths
  4. drouthy
  5. drove
  6. drove a coach and horses through
  7. drove a coach and six through
  8. drove a hard bargain
  9. drove a nail in someone's coffin
  10. drove a nail where it would go
  11. drove a stake through its heart

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drove a coach and horses through (page history and authors); drive a coach and horses through (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “drove a coach and horses through.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drove_a_coach_and_horses_through. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.