high horse

noun

1. a haughty attitude or temper; a contemptuous manner.

high horse

1. To be on one's “high horse” is to be disdainful or conceited: “Sally got tired of Peter's snobbery and finally told him to get off his high horse.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of high horse¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425

Idioms and Phrases

see on one's high horse .

Example Sentences

This would be our first serious conversation and I do not want to come off as being on a high horse.

From Time

Three years into parenting, I’ve climbed off my high horse and embraced how damned cute kids gear can be.

From Outside Online

Anyway, far be it from me to get on my high horse about sensationalist covers.

From The Daily Beast

Firefox no longer has its moral high-horse, and that leaves its fragile state without anyone to resuscitate it if flatlines.

From The Daily Beast

But I hardly mounted my high horse and made some kind of argument that this incident disqualified him from the presidency.

From The Daily Beast

And I don't say this from atop some moral or aesthetic or populist high horse.

From The Daily Beast

But with you it's different, and she's on her dignity—riding her high horse.

From Project Gutenberg

Albert Fitzallen did not ride a very high horse when he learned that his supposed rival was so anxious to assist him.

From Project Gutenberg

She'd be, I suppose, on her high horse—and—and 'tis not a feather to me.

From Project Gutenberg

I could not help feeling that I was riding "a high horse;" but the injustice done me seemed to warrant it.

From Project Gutenberg

Jimmy Wilkinson owes me money, and he owes me an apology, and he's got to come down from his high horse, or I'm a liar.

From Project Gutenberg