tilt at windmills

English

Alternative forms

• fight windmills

Etymology

From a passage in the novel Don Quixote where the eponymous character tilts (i.e. jousts) at windmills that he has mistaken for giants.

Verb

tilt at windmills (third-person singular simple present tilts at windmills, present participle tilting at windmills, simple past and past participle tilted at windmills)

1. (intransitive) To attack imaginary enemies.
2. (intransitive, by extension) To go on a wild-goose chase; to persistently engage in a futile activity.

Synonyms

• (go on a wild-goose chase): chase a rainbow

Related terms

• throw one's cap over the windmill
• mistake windmills for giants

Translations

attack imaginary enemies

• Catalan: lluïtar contra molins de vent
• Finnish: taistella tuulimyllyjä vastaan
• French: se battre contre des moulins à vent (fr)
• German: gegen Windmühlen kämpfen (de)
• Hebrew: נִלְחַם בְּטַחֲנוֹת רוּחַ (he) (nilchám b'tachanót rúach)
• Irish: dul i ngleic le samhailtí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: slåss mot vindmøller (no), kjempe mot vindmøller

• Polish: walczyć z wiatrakami (pl) impf
• Russian: боро́ться с ветряны́ми ме́льницами (borótʹsja s vetrjanými mélʹnicami), сража́ться с ветряны́ми ме́льницами (ru) (sražátʹsja s vetrjanými mélʹnicami)
• Spanish: luchar contra molinos de viento
• Swedish: slåss mot väderkvarnar
• Welsh: ymladd â melinau gwynt