horse pill

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

horse pill (plural horse pills)

1. (idiomatic, sometimes mildly humorous) A medicinal pill which is very large in size and is therefore difficult for a person to swallow.
   • 2002 June 26, “CNN.com - Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Vitamins and Alzheimer's”, in CNN, retrieved 25 November 2013:

     I'm lucky enough to remember to take my horse pill, much less drop it into a glass and wait 45 minutes.

   • 2008 December 31, Becky Jungbauer, “Vitamin Supplements: Fact Or Folklore?”, in Science 2.0, retrieved 25 November 2013:

     I do know that I feel better when I remember to take my multivitamin, iron and vitamin D supplements, and the occasional fish oil horse pill.

2. (idiomatic, by extension) A fact, proposal, claim, etc. that is difficult to accept or believe.
   • 1967 August 26, Harry Schwartz, “Answer To Soviet Shift: China”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 25 November 2013, page 8A:

     Even pro-Soviet Communists will find the Geneva accord a difficult horse pill to swallow.

   • 1984 August 4, “Reagan will pledge to preserve tax cut, sources say”, in The News and Courier, retrieved 25 November 2013, page 8A:

     Mac Carey, an aide to leading tax-cut crusaders in Congress, called the draft language in Reagan's radio speech "a horse pill. It's very difficult to swallow."

   • 2002 June 20, Michael Cooper, “New York City Budget: The Deal”, in New York Times, retrieved 25 November 2013:

     Officials know that if this year's budget is a bitter pill to swallow, next year's will be a bitter horse pill.

   • 2009 November 30, Guy Junker, “Junker: Panthers need to get over it”, in triblive.com, retrieved 25 November 2013:

     They need to swallow that big horse pill that is the West Virginia loss, forget about it and re-focus this week.

3. (animal husbandry) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see horse,‎ pill: a pill for horses, sometimes a large one.

Synonyms

• (fact, proposal, claim, etc that is difficult to accept or believe): hard pill to swallow

Related terms

• (outlandish drugs for humans): horse tranquilizer

References

• “horse pill”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.