on the hoof
Language: English
Part of speech: prep_phrase
Etymology: The literal sense concerning livestock has no more to it as a sum of parts than the corresponding sense of on foot does. A reference to humans being on the hoof occurs in a text from England in 1691.
Senses: examples: text: […]he is hereby directed to purchase, and have in Readiness by the First Day of July next, Two Hundred good draught Horses, Thirty Hogsheads of Rum, Ninety Thousand Weight of Beef on the Hoof, Hides included,[…]
ref: 1780, [Act and resolves]. At the general assembly of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations:
text: A 150-pound whitetail on the hoof can be reduced to 100 pounds of pure meat.
ref: 1990, A.D. Livingston, Venison Cookbook:
glosses: Of livestock, not yet butchered.
examples: text: Barely 10% of the country's corn crop ever goes into commercial channels to become breakfast cereal, corn starch or oil. Less than 25% ever leaves the farm where it was grown - until it leaves on the hoof.
ref: 1956, John Weston Walch, Complete Handbook on Farm Policy, volume 2, page 212:
text: In 1920, votes at the Republican National Convention were selling at $2,500 on the hoof.
ref: 1958, American Capsule News, page 25:
text: It seems to me that the university degrees as I see them on the hoof in Calgary at any rate serve to widen the gulf between the people who need help and the people who are there to help.
ref: 1970, Canada. Parliament. Senate. Special Committee on Poverty, Proceedings of the Special Senate Committee on Poverty, page 22:
text: An essential weakness of these results, of course, is that it is not possible to conclude very much about the importance of these various routes like 'a new person joining the firm' (also referred to as technology transfer 'on the hoof')
ref: 1972, Paul Halmos, The Sociological Review Monograph, number 18, page 198:
text: Stray German cavalry horses are pastured along with many cows in the lush grassland around our tents, and fresh milk is delivered to our doorsteps on the hoof. As a matter of fact, the cows are so numerous we often have to drive them away.
ref: 1978, Karl Swindt, 429th Fighter Squadron, the "Retail" Gang, page 98:
text: Most of the steamers are being "sold on the hoof" to the larger scrap dealers.
ref: 1986, Don Ball, The Pennsylvania Railroad, 1940s-1950s, page 139:
glosses: Alive; embodied in a living animal (including a human); in working order.
examples: text: Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion in that Country in 1641, the Mother fled with our Author and another Child towards England, and landing at Leverpoole in Lancashire, they all beated it on the hoof thence to London,[…]
ref: 1691, Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses: An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops Who […] :
text: Look at this crowd! Bound to be a lot of pussy on the hoof in a crowd like this.
ref: 2005, Brokeback Mountain, 00:52:30
text: Relaxation, I may say, included long, very hot walks up to the lower slopes of the Tunari, the mountain that dominates the verdant valley of Cochabamba, during which the hyperactive president held discussions on the hoof with local authorities.
ref: 2009, Margaret Joan Anstee, The House on the Sacred Lake and Other Bolivian Dreams:
glosses: Of a human activity, while standing, walking, or running; on foot.
examples: text: Near-synonym: extempore
text: But billets need not be a great issue, and it is possible that, apart from the first and last nights, choice can be made 'on the hoof'. When on the road, consultation with the map and the clock will indicate when to start looking.
ref: 1990, Lewis Childs, Kimberley:
text: To make such an expensive commitment without properly thinking about how best to help travellers on low incomes shows that the policy was developed on the hoof.
ref: 2020 January 2, Christian Wolmar, Rail, page 70:
text: Stunned NHS [National Health Service] bosses have described the brutal scrapping of so many managers as “vandalism”. They have claimed it will strip back ICBs [integrated care boards] so much that they will not be able to properly discharge their duties to commission key services and oversee the quality of NHS care in their areas. “This smacks of reckless policymaking, done on the hoof to please the Treasury rather than considering what is best for patients who have been without the care they deserve for so long,” said [Helen] Morgan.
ref: 2025 May 6, Denis Campbell, “Ministers admit failing to assess impact of thousands of NHS job cuts in England. Exclusive: Failure to assess impact of axing thousands of NHS managers described by critics as reckless”, in The Guardian:
synonyms: on the fly
glosses: Without proper thought or preparation; done as one goes.
Derived terms: steak on the hoof