stalking horse
noun
stalk·ing horse
| \ ˈstȯ-kiŋ-
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Definition of stalking horse
1
: a horse or a figure like a horse behind which a hunter stalks game
2
: something used to mask a purpose
3
: a candidate put forward to divide the opposition or to conceal someone's real candidacy
Examples of stalking horse in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The Suncoast Dome was born as a stalking horse for new parks in Chicago and San Francisco. — Joe Sheehan, SI.com, "Rays' Outrageous Montreal Plan Only Exists to Get New Stadiums Built—Again," 2 July 2019 Several bills kicking around the Capitol this year are viewed in the insular community of workers’ compensation lobbyists as stalking horses for the larger conflict and hints to a potential new alliance. — Dan Walters, The Mercury News, "Walters: A new California workers’ compensation battle looming," 18 June 2019 In the minds of too many activists, climate really is a stalking horse for capitalism, consumerism and economic growth. — Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, "Climate Change Is Affordable," 27 Nov. 2018 Right Lane will also receive a breakup fee and expense reimbursement totaling $995,000 for having served as stalking horse, or lead, bidder. — Becky Yerak, WSJ, "Planet Hollywood Owner to Buy Bertucci’s Pizza Chain," 5 June 2018 Companies selling assets in bankruptcy often seek to name a stalking horse to set a floor price to encourage bidding. — Lillian Rizzo And Patrick Fitzgerald, WSJ, "Fairfax Makes $300 Million Bid for Toys ‘R’ Us Canadian Stores," 20 Apr. 2018 Enduro has already secured stalking horse bidders for three of those packages. — Sandra Baker, star-telegram, "Oil and gas company owned by prominent Fort Worth family files for bankruptcy | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 17 May 2018 At the same time, the debtors are of course continuing to work closely and cooperatively with our stalking horse bidder to ensure as smooth a transition as possible if the stalking horse bidder is ultimately the prevailing bidder. — Jonathan Randles, WSJ, "Randles’s Take: Weinstein Co. Fate Likely Determined This Week," 30 Apr. 2018 Witor, owned by Blair Wyatt and trained by Todd Wyatt, with Eric Poretz in the irons, played stalking horse and bided his time throughout the course. — Maryanna Skowronski, The Aegis, "Zanclus takes My Lady's Manor Steeplechase on a beautiful day for racing," 15 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'stalking horse.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for stalking horse
stalking horse
noun
English Language Learners Definition of stalking horse
: someone or something that is used to hide a true purpose
especially
: a candidate for a political office or position who has no real chance of winning but is being used by a political party to weaken the support for an opposing party, to find out if another candidate might be successful, etc.
See the full definition for stalking horse in the English Language Learners Dictionary