put out to grass

Idioms  

1. Also, put out to pasture. Cause to retire, as in With mandatory retirement they put you out to grass at age 65, or She's not all that busy now that she's been put out to pasture. These idioms refer to farm animals sent to graze when they are no longer useful for other work.

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Example Sentences

He has been put out to grass in Hamburg, the city that played host to the 9/11 conspirators.

From New York Times • Jul. 17, 2014

We will just not accept being put out to grass.

From Time Magazine Archive

‘It’s not like the old days when they’d be sitting there for hours on end, like horses put out to grass.’

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler

My hopes of escaping began to go down, for there I was, still chained to the fore-stick like a cow put out to grass.

From The Black Buccaneer by Meader, Stephen W. (Stephen Warren)

All are put out to grass, “hoppled” or tethered on trail-ropes.

From The Lost Mountain A Tale of Sonora by Reid, Mayne