it is no use locking the stable door after the horse has bolted
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
It's pointless to try to prevent something after it has already happened
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Vô ích khi cố ngăn chặn điều gì đó sau khi nó đã xảy ra
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: locking a stable door after a horse has escaped
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, 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 “it is no use locking the stable door after the horse has bolted” mean?
It's pointless to try to prevent something after it has already happened Literally: locking a stable door after a horse has escaped
Is “it is no use locking the stable door after the horse has bolted” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.