Idiom:  Straight from the horse's mouth

Cartoon of a horse whispering in a child's ear to depict the idiom "straight from the horse's mouth" plus the idiom definition and a sentence example.

Meaning

Look at the picture and try to guess the meaning of the idiom 'straight from the horse's mouth.'   

Straight from the horse's mouth:  directly from the person who knows the most about the matter; someone who knows the facts.


Notes:

By looking inside a horse's mouth it's possible to accurately determine the age of the horse by looking at its teeth. And, by knowing it's age, it's possible to reliably understand the value of the horse.

So this idiom is talking about having the right facts or correct information by getting it from the correct source.

 

Examples

— "I heard Andy got angry and quit this morning!" "Well, I can confirm it's true since I had lunch with Andy and heard it straight from the horse's mouth."

— Look, if you don't believe me, go over to Sarah right now and get it straight from the horse's mouth.

— I never would've believed she got expelled from her boarding school if I hadn't heard it straight from the horse's mouth.

— "How do you know they broke up?"   "I heard it straight from the horse's mouth.  Right after they had a huge fight Sandy called to let me know what happened."

— I'm going to call a staff meeting to talk about the layoffs—our employees deserve to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

— Sorry but it's confidential. If you want that information you'll have to get it straight from the horse's mouth.

— I'm tired of all of the rumors. I'm want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth if it's true.

— Sally's best friend confessed to her mother that she and Candy have been smoking pot for months. I want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth though so please come home as soon as you can so we can speak with her together.

— I hate rumors because they're often inaccurate—I always try to get the news straight from the horse's mouth whenever I can.

— Be careful about the rumors that float around the school—so many of them are wrong that I only believe what I hear straight from the horse's mouth.

— The company's CEO is coming to the staff meeting this morning so we'll be able to hear all of the latest news and developments straight from the horse's mouth.


Synonyms

  • from the source
  • hear something first-hand

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