While the grass grows the steed starves. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1228)

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Delays can lead to loss or hardship

Literally: grass growing while a horse starves

Examples

The company went bankrupt while the grass grows the steed starves, waiting for investors.

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 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “While the grass grows the steed starves. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1228)” mean?

Delays can lead to loss or hardship Literally: grass growing while a horse starves

Is “While the grass grows the steed starves. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1228)” formal or informal?

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