or till the cows come home. An indefinite time.
1610. Drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.—‘Pope Joan,’ Harl. Misc., iv. 95. (N.E.D.) Also Swift, 1738.
1824. We were resolved to keep it up till the cows come home.—Old Colony Memorial (Plymouth), March 6.
1841. [I declared] that, never having voted for [Mr. Rives’s] election myself, I never would, if I were in the Legislature; no, not “until the cows come home.”—Mr. Wise of Virginia, House of Repr., Jan. 27: Cong. Globe, p. 288, App.
1860. I could stand here and speak of Henry A. Wise of Accomac until the cows come home, but I won’t do it.—Speech of Mr. Goode in the Democratic State Convention: Richmond Enquirer, Feb. 28, p. 3/1.
