till the cows come home

1. For a long time: “Mr. Rowland said that as far as he was concerned, the delinquent students could stay there washing blackboards till the cows came home.”

Idioms and Phrases

Also, when the cows come home . For a long time, as in You can keep asking till the cows come home, but you still may not go bungee-jumping . This term alludes to when the cows return to the barn for milking. [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

“We can do genealogy research till the cows come home, but without DNA, we would never know that information,” Comer says.

From Science Magazine

I’m just going to keep saying, till the cows come home, that I just do not believe at any given moment that there are five, much less six, votes on the current Supreme Court to be justices in 2027 sitting on the smoldering dumpster fire of what’s left of all constitutional theory and history.

From Slate

Like many Americans long removed from pastoral life, I still use its idioms, from “Hold your horses” and “stubborn as a mule” to “till the cows come home.”

From Seattle Times

That they will watch till the cows come home.

From Los Angeles Times

“An infinite number. As many as between one and till the cows come home.”

From Literature

Related Words

• always
• endlessly
• eternally
• permanently