Word.ws English Dictionary

see a man about a horse

see a man about a horse verb: used in place of a real explanation when excusing oneself for a short period of time, particularly to use a toilet.

Verb

see a man about a horse (third-person singular simple present sees a man about a horse, present participle seeing a man about a horse, simple past saw a man about a horse, past participle seen a man about a horse)

  1. (euphemistic, idiomatic) Used in place of a real explanation when excusing oneself for a short period of time, particularly to use a toilet.
    • I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail. I've just got to visit the ladies' room to see a man about a horse.
    Synonyms:
    a man, a man about a dog, a man about the plumbing, use the toilet, urinate

Synonyms of see a man about a horse

Forms of see a man about a horse

third-person singular presentsees a man about a horse
present participleseeing a man about a horse
pastsaw a man about a horse
past participleseen a man about a horse

Origin of see a man about a horse

A variant of see a man about a dog, from the implied context of seeing someone about a bet on a horse race.

Questions about see a man about a horse

What does see a man about a horse mean?
See a man about a horse means used in place of a real explanation when excusing oneself for a short period of time, particularly to use a toilet.
What part of speech is see a man about a horse?
See a man about a horse is a verb.
What is the past tense of see a man about a horse?
The past tense of see a man about a horse is saw a man about a horse.

Words near see a man about a horse in the dictionary

  1. Sedwick
  2. Sedwicks
  3. see
  4. see a man
  5. see a man about a dog
  6. see a man about a horse
  7. see a way clear to
  8. see a wolf
  9. see about
  10. see after
  11. see also

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: see a man about a horse (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-see a man about a horse.ogg.

Cite this entry: “see a man about a horse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/see_a_man_about_a_horse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.