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 President Lincoln refused to change generals at a certain time during the Civil War, saying that it was not wise to "swap horses while crossing a stream," he reasoned from analogy.

From Practical Argumentation by Pattee, George K.

"I believe in Lincoln's maxim," said he, "that 'it will never do to swap horses while crossing streams.'"

From Waldfried A Novel by Auerbach, Berthold

The people this time were like the Dutch farmer,—they believed that "it was not best to swap horses when crossing a stream."

From The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3 by Various