swap horses

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Major Companies Push the Limits of a Tax Break It began more than 90 years ago as a small tax break intended to help family farmers who wanted to swap horses and land.

From New York Times • Jan. 7, 2013

In Hollywood, Jim Moran, who has spent 82 hours looking for a needle in a haystack and once sold an ice box to an Eskimo, laid plans to swap horses in midstream.

From Time Magazine Archive

When Lincoln in the middle of the Civil War said that men do not swap horses while they are crossing a stream, the analog, though subtle, was felt to be real.

From The Making of Arguments by Gardiner, J. H.

"Why, the very meat and marrow of his existence is his horse-trading; and who could swap horses and tell the truth at the same time?"

From The Quickening by Ashe, E. M.

Besides this deepening sentiment of personal devotion and confidence, there was a wide conviction that, in his own expressive phrase, "it is not wise to swap horses while crossing the stream."

From Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860 by Blaine, James Gillespie