Donkey–Figures of Speech

(a)  a stupid person

(b)  a stubborn person

(c)  {in British English} – an unsuccessful horse in a horse race

(d)  an unskilled poker player  (‘poker’ a kind of card game)

(e)  an unskilled football player who uses more of his physical strength than his skill or technique

2. (a) donkey work  =  some heavy manual (labour) work that is too hard for a person

(b) work donkey  =  a person who does the hardest of jobs without complaint

(a donkey jacket)

3. donkey jacket  =  a thick coat with a leather or plastic on the shoulders worn by workers

4. donkey vote  =  a vote accepting the order of candidates on a ballot paper, giving the list of names by priority

5. donkey’s ears  =  a very long time

6. one-legged donkey  =  a stool with only one leg, given to coastguards in former times to make sure if anyone dozed on duty, he fell off the stool

7. donkey’s breakfast  =  a hat or mattress made of straw (= dried grass)

8. (a)  a donkey between two bottles

(b)  a donkey between bundles of hay [said of a person who is unable to make a decision]

9. (a)  as dumb as a donkey

(b)  as lazy as a donkey

10. as fast as a donkey’s gallop  =  very slow {Contrary to this ‘simile’, donkeys are known to gallop!}

11. talk the hind legs off a donkey  =  to talk continuously until the the listeners become bored

12. to do the donkey-work  =  to do the less important, the most unpleasant, or heavy routine work

13. to ride the black donkey  =

(a)  not willing to obey easily

(b)  to cheat in weighing out goods (like a shopkeeper, trader, merchant, etc.)

14. the donkey means one thing and the rider/driver another [said of when there is disagreement among members of a group; and also to suggest that that different people have different points of view]

15. (someone) whacks his own donkey [said of someone who is too busy with his own affairs to do anything else for others]

16. straw berries to a donkey [said to mean that something that is given to somebody is too good for that person because that person does not deserve such good things or does not know how to appreciate such good or valuable things, etc.]

17. jackass  =  a rude or thoughtless person