IdiomAnimalsSpanish

de caballo

Meaning: Enormous; of impressive or overwhelming size or intensity.

Literally: Of horse

Example: “Se levantó con una gripe de caballo.” — He woke up with a monstrous case of the flu.

Origin: The horse stands for size and strength, so something de caballo is huge or brutal: una fiebre de caballo (a horse's fever), una dosis de caballo (a horse's dose). The usage matches French fièvre de cheval and remède de cheval, and has no particular story behind it.

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