dog that caught the car

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Someone who achieves a goal, but doesn't know what to do next

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Người đạt được mục tiêu, nhưng không biết phải làm gì tiếp theo

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a dog that has caught a car it was chasing
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The new CEO was like the dog that caught the car, unsure how to lead the company

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “dog that caught the car” mean?

Someone who achieves a goal, but doesn't know what to do next Literally: a dog that has caught a car it was chasing

Is “dog that caught the car” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.