"back the wrong horse" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backs the wrong horse",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backing the wrong horse",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backed the wrong horse",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backed the wrong horse",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "back the wrong horse (third-person singular simple present backs the wrong horse, present participle backing the wrong horse, simple past and past participle backed the wrong horse)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "back the right horse"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 32",
          "text": "This might mean that I waste vast amounts of time searching for a species only to find that it no longer counted when the new regime is in place. All that effort spent backing the wrong horse.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful."
      ],
      "id": "en-back_the_wrong_horse-en-verb-MEkWdh9l",
      "links": [
        [
          "support",
          "support"
        ],
        [
          "unsuccessful",
          "unsuccessful"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "pick the wrong horse"
        },
        {
          "word": "choose the wrong horse"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
          "word": "vsadit na špatného koně"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
          "word": "veikata väärää hevosta"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
          "word": "miser sur le mauvais cheval"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
          "word": "rossz lóra tesz"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "stawiać na złego konia"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "postawić na złego konia"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
          "word": "apostar no cavalo errado"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "back the wrong horse"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backs the wrong horse",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backing the wrong horse",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backed the wrong horse",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backed the wrong horse",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "back the wrong horse (third-person singular simple present backs the wrong horse, present participle backing the wrong horse, simple past and past participle backed the wrong horse)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "back the right horse"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 32",
          "text": "This might mean that I waste vast amounts of time searching for a species only to find that it no longer counted when the new regime is in place. All that effort spent backing the wrong horse.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "support",
          "support"
        ],
        [
          "unsuccessful",
          "unsuccessful"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "pick the wrong horse"
        },
        {
          "word": "choose the wrong horse"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
      "word": "vsadit na špatného koně"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
      "word": "veikata väärää hevosta"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
      "word": "miser sur le mauvais cheval"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
      "word": "rossz lóra tesz"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "stawiać na złego konia"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "postawić na złego konia"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to support something or someone that later turns out to be unsuccessful",
      "word": "apostar no cavalo errado"
    }
  ],
  "word": "back the wrong horse"
}