till the cows come home

1. For a long time: “Mr. Rowland said that as far as he was concerned, the delinquent students could stay there washing blackboards till the cows came home.”

Idioms and Phrases

Also, when the cows come home . For a long time, as in You can keep asking till the cows come home, but you still may not go bungee-jumping . This term alludes to when the cows return to the barn for milking. [Late 1500s]

Related Words

• always
• endlessly
• eternally
• permanently