English · Idiom Historical

straight from the horse's mouth

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Direct from the highest authority, which can not be questioned. The only certain way of discover- ing the age of a horse is by examining its lower jaw.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

trực tiếp từ quyền威 cao nhất

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Horses Mouth & tongue Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “straight from the horse's mouth” mean?

Direct from the highest authority, which can not be questioned. The only certain way of discover- ing the age of a horse is by examining its lower jaw.

Is “straight from the horse's mouth” formal or informal?

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

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