IdiomAnimals
English
Englishput the cart before the horse
Meaning: To reverse the necessary or expected order of two things; to put a later step first.
Example: “Buying furniture before you've found an apartment is putting the cart before the horse.”
Equivalents in other languages
French: Mettre la charrue avant les bœufs Literally: To put the plow before the oxen
Portuguese: colocar o carro à frente dos bois Literally: To put the cart in front of the oxen
Origin: The image of a cart pushed ahead of the animal meant to pull it appears in classical writers, and the English phrase is recorded from the 16th century, when doing things in the wrong order was already its meaning.
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