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pasture

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put a horse out to pasture

to retire a horse by allowing it to live out its days in a pasture with no work. (See also put someone out to pasture.) The horse could no longer work, so we put it out to pasture.

See also: horse, out, pasture, put

put someone out to pasture

Fig. to retire someone. (Based on put a horse out to pasture.) Please don't put me out to pasture. I have lots of good years left. This vice president has reached retirement age. It's time to put him out to pasture.

See also: out, pasture, put

put somebody out to pasture

to make someone stop working at their job because they are too old to be useful At 62, he felt he was not ready to be put out to pasture.

Etymology: based on the tradition of keeping farm animals that are too old to work in a pasture (land covered with grass)

See also: out, pasture, put

greener pastures

a better situation After a successful year, the young, ambitious coach was seeking greener pastures with another team. The survey finds many older residents are looking for greener pastures.

See also: greener, pasture

greener pastures

a better or more exciting job or place A lot of scientists are seeking greener pastures abroad because of the scarcity of opportunities at home.

See also: greener, pasture

put somebody out to pasture

to make someone stop working at their job because they are too old to be useful He felt he was still too young to be put out to pasture.

See also: out, pasture, put

pastures new

  (British) also new pastures (American & Australian)

if someone goes to pastures new, they leave their job or home in order to go to a new one Tom's off to pastures new. He's got a transfer to Australia.

See also: new, pasture

put out to grass

Also, put out to pasture. Cause to retire, as in With mandatory retirement they put you out to grass at age 65, or She's not all that busy now that she's been put out to pasture. These idioms refer to farm animals sent to graze when they are no longer useful for other work.

See also: grass, out, put

put out to pasture

1. To herd (grazing animals) into pasturable land.

2. Informal To retire or compel to retire from work or a full workload.

See also: out, pasture, put