Advertisement

Advertisement

if wishes were horses



Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

If one could readily have what one wanted, life would be easy. For example, Wendy would love a brand-new car for her sixteenth birthday but—if wishes were horses . This expression is a shortening of If wishes were horses, beggars would ride , first recorded about 1628 in a collection of Scottish proverbs.

Advertisement

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


IFVIf wishes were horses, then beggars would ride