ride a horse foaled by an acorn

Verb

ride a horse foaled by an acorn (third-person singular simple present rides a horse foaled by an acorn, present participle riding a horse foaled by an acorn, simple past rode a horse foaled by an acorn, past participle ridden a horse foaled by an acorn)

1. (obsolete, slang) To be hanged on the gallows.
   • You'll ride on a horſe that was foal'd of an acron.
     That is; the gallows.1670, John Ray, “Proverbial Phraſes”, in A Compleat Collection of Engliſh Proverbs, 4th edition, published 1768, page 197
   • "What ho, my kiddy!" cried Job, "don't be glimflashy; why you'd cry beef on a blater; the cove is a bob cull, and a pal of my own; and moreover, is as pretty a Tyburn blossom as ever was brought up to ride a horse foaled by an acorn."1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter 82, in Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman, page 385

   Synonyms:

   hang, swing, dance on a rope, dance on nothing, dance the hempen jig, dance the Tyburn jig, dance upon nothing, dangle, stretch hemp, string up