you can't milk a bull
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Some things are impossible or pointless to attempt
Literally: extracting milk from a male cow
Examples
She tried to get a refund from the scammer, but you can't milk a bull
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 “you can't milk a bull” mean?
Some things are impossible or pointless to attempt Literally: extracting milk from a male cow
Is “you can't milk a bull” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.