English

Alternative forms

• shanks's mare, shank's mare, shanks mare

Noun

shanks' mare ‎(plural shanks' mares)

1. (US, idiomatic) One's own legs used for walking; to "travel by shanks' mare" or "ride on shanks' mare" is to walk to your destination.
   • 1942. Transit Journal, McGraw Hill, page 173:

     Once they take to Shanks' mare, they are all equal

   • 1869. Iowa newspaper, The Dubuque Daily Herald, May 1869:

     A public exhibition of the velocipede [a predecessor of the bicycle] ... will never come into general use in competition with Shank's mare.

   • 2003. John O'Flaherty, Rafferty, p. 77:

     The last thing we'd want to be seen doing...is using shanks mare, even though the day is holding up well.

Related terms

• shanks' nag, shanks-nag, and variants (Scottish)
• shanks' pony and variants (UK, Australian)

Translations

References

• Shanks' mare, by Michael Quinion, World Wide Words, 2002-08-31
• Shanks' mare, Gary Martin, 2007.