Word.ws English Dictionary

that dog won't hunt

UK/ðæt ˈdɒɡ wəʊnt ˈhʌnt/US/ðæt ˈdɔɡ woʊnt ˈhʌnt/

that dog won't hunt phrase: that idea will not work; that is an inadequate explanation or proposition.

that dog won't hunt: that idea will not work; that is an inadequate explanation or proposition
Image: Jitze Couperus from Los Altos Hills, California, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Phrase

that dog won't hunt

  1. (US) That idea will not work; that is an inadequate explanation or proposition.
    • ‘If the’ ain’t no fools, the’ ain’t no fun,’ said usually in self-derision; and ‘That old dog won't hunt,’ meaning that an excuse offered will not serve. These and the numerous specimens which follow have simply been grouped by the present writer under the heading of Miscellaneous, explanations...[1939 December, Paul Brewster, “Folk ‘Sayings’ from Indiana”, in American Speech: A Quarterly of Linguistic Usage, volume XIV, [Tuscaloosa, Ala.]: Published by the University of Alabama Press for the...
    • "Calling her house help Mr. and Mrs. just won't get it! That old dog won't hunt," Oman had confided. / "I know, but let her discover it herself," Steve had said.][1965, Jesse Hill Ford, The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, OCLC 291992; republished as The Liberation of L. B. Jones (Signet Novel; Y4209), New York, N.Y....

Synonyms of that dog won't hunt

Forms of that dog won't hunt

alternative formthat dog don't hunt

Origin of that dog won't hunt

Apparently originating from the southern United States, the phrase may refer to a hunting dog that refuses to do its job.

Questions about that dog won't hunt

What does that dog won't hunt mean?
That dog won't hunt means that idea will not work; that is an inadequate explanation or proposition.
What part of speech is that dog won't hunt?
That dog won't hunt is a phrase.
How do you pronounce that dog won't hunt?
That dog won't hunt is pronounced /ðæt ˈdɒɡ wəʊnt ˈhʌnt/ (UK).

Words near that dog won't hunt in the dictionary

  1. that clauses
  2. that cock won't fight
  3. that did it
  4. that does it
  5. that dog don't run
  6. that dog won't hunt
  7. that ever walked on two legs
  8. that figures
  9. that girl
  10. that guy
  11. that is

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: that dog won't hunt (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-that dog won't hunt.ogg.

Cite this entry: “that dog won't hunt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/that_dog_won%27t_hunt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.