horse trading
the act or fact of conducting a shrewd exchange or engaging in a horse trade; bargaining.
Origin of horse trading
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use horse trading in a sentence
Israeli politics will now devolve into a fierce period of horse-trading, double dealing, and speculation.
Israel’s Election Could Be Bad News for Netanyahu | Robert Shrum | January 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTTuesday night, as the committee vote on contempt came closer, there was an effort at some old-fashioned backroom horse-trading.
Democrats, GOP Draw Lines in Eric Holder ‘Fast and Furious’ Contempt Battle | Patricia Murphy, Aram Roston | June 21, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe word "horse-trading" in politics is not meant to be understood literally after all.
Andrew Roberts on the horse-trading ahead—and the financial Armageddon to come.
The leadership may have to dangle choice committee assignments to complete the steal, and engage in other kinds of horse-trading.
High-priced stock is rare here, hence there is little horse-trading of the swindling variety, and no horse thieving.
In the Land of Mosques & Minarets | Francis MiltounThey indulged in horse-trading and played politics to a certain extent, but the lines of demarcation were sharper.
Ten From Infinity | Paul W. FairmanChildren loved him, and he sneaked away from work to tell them improbable stories of sea-faring and horse-trading and bears.
Main Street | Sinclair LewisThe preacher who led the meeting is saturated with tobacco and addicted to horse-trading and worldly foolish jesting.
Birth of a Reformation | Andrew ByersThe former make an open business of horse-trading, and the latter of public-dancing, singing, and fortune-telling.
Due North or Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia | Maturin M. Ballou
British Dictionary definitions for horse trading
hard bargaining to obtain equal concessions by both sides in a dispute
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with horse trading
Negotiation marked by hard bargaining and shrewd exchange. For example, The restaurant owner is famous for his horse trading; he's just exchanged a month of free dinners for a month of free television commercials. This expression alludes to the notorious shrewdness of horse traders, who literally bought and sold horses. [c. 1820]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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