tilt\ at\ windmills

tilt\ at\ windmills
v. phr. literary
To do battle with an imaginary foe (after Cervantes' Don Quixote).

John is a nice guy but when it comes to departmental meetings he wastes everybody's time by constantly tilting at windmills.


Словарь американских идиом. — СПб., Изд-во "Лань". . 1997.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • tilt at windmills — {v. phr.}, {literary} To do battle with an imaginary foe (after Cervantes Don Quixote). * /John is a nice guy but when it comes to departmental meetings he wastes everybody s time by constantly tilting at windmills./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • tilt at windmills — {v. phr.}, {literary} To do battle with an imaginary foe (after Cervantes Don Quixote). * /John is a nice guy but when it comes to departmental meetings he wastes everybody s time by constantly tilting at windmills./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • tilt at windmills — ► tilt at windmills attack imaginary enemies. [ORIGIN: with allusion to the story of Don Quixote tilting at windmills, believing they were giants.] Main Entry: ↑tilt …   English terms dictionary

  • tilt at windmills — A person who tilts at windmills, tries to do things that will never work in practice …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • tilt at windmills — phrasal Etymology: so called fr. the episode in Don Quijote de la Mancha in which Don Quixote battles with a windmill, thinking it a giant more at don quixote : to fight imaginary enemies or illusory evils even though this rebellion may be a… …   Useful english dictionary

  • tilt at windmills — attack imaginary enemies. [with allusion to the story of Don Quixote tilting at windmills, believing they were giants.] → tilt …   English new terms dictionary

  • tilt at windmills — verb a) To attack imaginary enemies. b) To go on a wild goose chase; to persistently engage in a futile activity See Also: throw ones cap over the windmill, mistake windmills for giants …   Wiktionary

  • tilt at windmills —    A person who tilts at windmills, tries to do things that will never work in practice.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • tilt at windmills — literary to waste time trying to deal with enemies or problems that do not exist. We re not tilting at windmills here. If we don t do something about these problems, our environment may be in serious danger …   New idioms dictionary

  • Tilt at windmills —   A person who tilts at windmills, tries to do things that will never work in practice …   Dictionary of English idioms

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”