he that would hang his dog gives out first that he is mad
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Someone who wants to get rid of something gives a false reason for doing so
Literally: he who wants to hang his dog announces first that it is mad
Examples
He claimed the dog was vicious, but really he just didn't want it anymore
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “he that would hang his dog gives out first that he is mad” mean?
Someone who wants to get rid of something gives a false reason for doing so Literally: he who wants to hang his dog announces first that it is mad
Is “he that would hang his dog gives out first that he is mad” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.