"close the stable door after the horse has bolted" meaning in English

See close the stable door after the horse has bolted in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-close the stable door after the horse has bolted.ogg [Australia] Forms: closes the stable door after the horse has bolted [present, singular, third-person], closing the stable door after the horse has bolted [participle, present], closed the stable door after the horse had bolted [participle, past], closed the stable door after the horse had bolted [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|close<> the stable door after the horse has<has,has,had> bolted}} close the stable door after the horse has bolted (third-person singular simple present closes the stable door after the horse has bolted, present participle closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, simple past and past participle closed the stable door after the horse had bolted)
  1. (idiomatic) To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism too late (after the first failure instead of before). Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: close the barn door after the horse has bolted, lock the stable door after the horse has bolted, shut the stable door after the horse has bolted, close the stable door after the horse has been stolen, lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen Related terms: barn door, horsebarn, late in the day, that ship has sailed, too little, too late, Scarborough warning, sell past the close Translations (to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred): 亡羊補牢 (Chinese Mandarin), als het kalf verdronken is, dempt men de put (Dutch), achter de feiten aanlopen (Dutch), haukotella kissan suussa (Finnish), c’est de la moutarde après dîner (French), den Brunnen zudecken, wenn das Kind hineingefallen ist (German), eső után köpönyeg (Hungarian), chiudere il recinto dopo che i buoi sono scappati (Italian), chiudere la stalla quando i buoi sono scappati (Italian), chiudere il cancello quando i buoi sono scappati (Italian), по свадба тапани (po svadba tapani) (Macedonian), mądry Polak po szkodzie (Polish), a buenas horas mangas verdes (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-close_the_stable_door_after_the_horse_has_bolted-en-verb-RPiLDdzr Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Finnish links with redundant wikilinks

Download JSON data for close the stable door after the horse has bolted meaning in English (6.0kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "closes the stable door after the horse has bolted",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closed the stable door after the horse had bolted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closed the stable door after the horse had bolted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "close<> the stable door after the horse has<has,has,had> bolted"
      },
      "expansion": "close the stable door after the horse has bolted (third-person singular simple present closes the stable door after the horse has bolted, present participle closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, simple past and past participle closed the stable door after the horse had bolted)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Finnish links with redundant wikilinks",
          "parents": [
            "Links with redundant wikilinks",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 May 15, Ian C. Lucas, “WhatsApp Data Breach”, in parliamentary debates (House of Commons), column 242",
          "text": "We are now in an election period, with WhatsApp and closed Facebook groups being used, as we speak, in electoral campaigning, but the law has not changed since the DCMS Committee, on which I serve, raised these issues. We have yet another instance of shutting the door after the horse has bolted.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism too late (after the first failure instead of before)."
      ],
      "id": "en-close_the_stable_door_after_the_horse_has_bolted-en-verb-RPiLDdzr",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism too late (after the first failure instead of before)."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "barn door"
        },
        {
          "word": "horsebarn"
        },
        {
          "word": "late in the day"
        },
        {
          "word": "that ship has sailed"
        },
        {
          "word": "too little, too late"
        },
        {
          "word": "Scarborough warning"
        },
        {
          "word": "sell past the close"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "close the barn door after the horse has bolted"
        },
        {
          "word": "lock the stable door after the horse has bolted"
        },
        {
          "word": "shut the stable door after the horse has bolted"
        },
        {
          "word": "close the stable door after the horse has been stolen"
        },
        {
          "word": "lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "亡羊補牢"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "note": "亡羊补牢 (wángyángbǔláo, literally “to repair the pen after sheep is lost”)",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "als het kalf verdronken is, dempt men de put"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "achter de feiten aanlopen"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "haukotella kissan suussa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "c’est de la moutarde après dîner"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "den Brunnen zudecken, wenn das Kind hineingefallen ist"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "eső után köpönyeg"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "chiudere il recinto dopo che i buoi sono scappati"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "chiudere la stalla quando i buoi sono scappati"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "chiudere il cancello quando i buoi sono scappati"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "note": "소 잃고 외양간 고친다 (so ilko oeyanggan gochinda, literally “one fixes the barn after losing the cow”)",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "po svadba tapani",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "по свадба тапани"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "mądry Polak po szkodzie"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "после пожара да за водой (posle požara da za vodoj, literally “fetching water after the fire”)",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
          "word": "a buenas horas mangas verdes"
        },
        {
          "code": "th",
          "lang": "Thai",
          "note": "วัวหายล้อมคอก (wuua-hǎai-lɔ́ɔm-kɔ̂ɔk, literally “to create a pen after the oxen have disappeared”)",
          "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-close the stable door after the horse has bolted.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6f/En-au-close_the_stable_door_after_the_horse_has_bolted.ogg/En-au-close_the_stable_door_after_the_horse_has_bolted.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/En-au-close_the_stable_door_after_the_horse_has_bolted.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "close the stable door after the horse has bolted"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "closes the stable door after the horse has bolted",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closed the stable door after the horse had bolted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closed the stable door after the horse had bolted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "close<> the stable door after the horse has<has,has,had> bolted"
      },
      "expansion": "close the stable door after the horse has bolted (third-person singular simple present closes the stable door after the horse has bolted, present participle closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, simple past and past participle closed the stable door after the horse had bolted)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "barn door"
    },
    {
      "word": "horsebarn"
    },
    {
      "word": "late in the day"
    },
    {
      "word": "that ship has sailed"
    },
    {
      "word": "too little, too late"
    },
    {
      "word": "Scarborough warning"
    },
    {
      "word": "sell past the close"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Finnish links with redundant wikilinks"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 May 15, Ian C. Lucas, “WhatsApp Data Breach”, in parliamentary debates (House of Commons), column 242",
          "text": "We are now in an election period, with WhatsApp and closed Facebook groups being used, as we speak, in electoral campaigning, but the law has not changed since the DCMS Committee, on which I serve, raised these issues. We have yet another instance of shutting the door after the horse has bolted.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism too late (after the first failure instead of before)."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism too late (after the first failure instead of before)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-close the stable door after the horse has bolted.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6f/En-au-close_the_stable_door_after_the_horse_has_bolted.ogg/En-au-close_the_stable_door_after_the_horse_has_bolted.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/En-au-close_the_stable_door_after_the_horse_has_bolted.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "close the barn door after the horse has bolted"
    },
    {
      "word": "lock the stable door after the horse has bolted"
    },
    {
      "word": "shut the stable door after the horse has bolted"
    },
    {
      "word": "close the stable door after the horse has been stolen"
    },
    {
      "word": "lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "亡羊補牢"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "note": "亡羊补牢 (wángyángbǔláo, literally “to repair the pen after sheep is lost”)",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "als het kalf verdronken is, dempt men de put"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "achter de feiten aanlopen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "haukotella kissan suussa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "c’est de la moutarde après dîner"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "den Brunnen zudecken, wenn das Kind hineingefallen ist"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "eső után köpönyeg"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "chiudere il recinto dopo che i buoi sono scappati"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "chiudere la stalla quando i buoi sono scappati"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "chiudere il cancello quando i buoi sono scappati"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "note": "소 잃고 외양간 고친다 (so ilko oeyanggan gochinda, literally “one fixes the barn after losing the cow”)",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "po svadba tapani",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "по свадба тапани"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "mądry Polak po szkodzie"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "после пожара да за водой (posle požara da za vodoj, literally “fetching water after the fire”)",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred",
      "word": "a buenas horas mangas verdes"
    },
    {
      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "note": "วัวหายล้อมคอก (wuua-hǎai-lɔ́ɔm-kɔ̂ɔk, literally “to create a pen after the oxen have disappeared”)",
      "sense": "to attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred"
    }
  ],
  "word": "close the stable door after the horse has bolted"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.