English

John Frederick Herring, Sr., ‘Charles XII’ and ‘Euclid’, The Decisive Heat for the Great St Leger Stakes at Doncaster, 1839

Noun

dark horse ‎(plural dark horses)

1. (idiomatic) Someone who possesses talents or favorable characteristics that are not known or expected by others.
   • 2005, Steve Augarde, Celandine, London: David Fickling Books, ISBN 978-0-385-60918-0; republished London: Corgi Books, 2006, ISBN 978-0-552-54968-4, page 13:

     As she pulled the door closed behind her, she heard the nurse say, “Well! You’re a dark horse, I must say! Do you know that extraordinary-looking girl?”

   • 2009, Sophie Kinsella, Twenties Girl: A Novel, London: Dial Press, ISBN 978-0-385-34202-5; republished London: Black Swan, 2010, ISBN 978-0-552-77436-9, page 183:

     “Well!” Genevieve laughs – the kind of bright, trilling laugh you give when you’re really quite annoyed about something. “Ed, you are a dark horse! I had no idea you had a girlfriend!”

2. (idiomatic, politics) A candidate for an election who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice.
3. Used other than as an idiom: see dark,‎ horse.

Translations

External links

• dark horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

1. ↑ Benjamin Disraeli (1831), “Chapter V: Ruined Hopes”, in The Young Duke: A Moral Tale, though Gay (Project Gutenberg; EBook #20008 (4 November 2012)), volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, London; Printed by Samuel Bentley, Dorset Street, Fleet Street, OCLC 7125898.