phrases, sayings, proverbs and idioms at
Home button Home | Search the phrases.org.uk website Search | Phrase Dictionary | Don't shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

The meaning and origin of the expression: Don't shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

Don't shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Don't shut the stable door after the horse has bolted'?

Don't waste time taking precautions when the damage has already been done.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Don't shut the stable door after the horse has bolted'?

It's no use shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.The advice 'don't shut the stable door...' is one of the most long standing English proverbs. A form of it is found in 1390 John Gower's enormously long Middle English poem Confessio Amantis. This was published in 1390 and it may be that the proverb was in use in everyday language for some time before that:

For whan the grete Stiede Is stole, thanne he taketh hiede, And makth the stable dore fast.

It appears again in John 's 1546 collection A Dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe tongue:

To late this repentance shewd is.
Whan the stede is stolne, shut the stable durre.

For a more modern English version of the same proverb we can look to Daniel Defoe's Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe, 1719:

It was only shutting the Stable-door after the Steed was stolen.

It's notable that many of the early citations use 'steed' rather than 'horse' or 'mare' which are more commonly used now. It's likely that is how the proverb was used in the spoken language for most of its life.

See other 'Don't...' proverbs:

Don't cast your pearls before swine

Don't change horses in midstream

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched

Don't get mad, get even

Don't cut off your nose to spite your face

Don't keep a dog and bark yourself

Don't let the cat out of the bag

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth

Don't put the cart before the horse

Don't throw good money after bad

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater

Don't try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs

Don't upset the apple-cart

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

Browse phrases beginning with:
 
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T UV W XYZ Full List