on the hoof
Of livestock, not yet butcheredOf livestock, not yet butchered.
Meaning
4 sensesOf livestock, not yet butchered.
(idiomatic)Alive; embodied in a living animal (including a human); in working order.
(idiomatic)Of a human activity, while standing, walking, or running; on foot.
(UK, idiomatic, informal)Without proper thought or preparation; done as one goes.
Near-synonym: extempore
Translations
2 languagesOrigin
The literal sense concerning livestock has no more to it as a sum of parts than the corresThe literal sense concerning livestock has no more to it as a sum of parts than the corresponding sense of on foot does. A reference to humans being on the hoof occurs in a text from England in 1691.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.