tilt at windmills

tilt at windmills
phrasal
Etymology: so called fr. the episode in Don Quijote de la Mancha in which Don Quixote battles with a windmill, thinking it a giant — more at don quixote
: to fight imaginary enemies or illusory evils

even though this rebellion may be a tilting at windmills — Rachel Frank

viewed them as harmless literary eccentrics, tilting at windmills — Donald Davidson

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tilt at windmills
To struggle with imaginary opposition, from the story of Don Quixote who charged at windmills under the misapprehension that they were giants
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Main Entry:wind

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I
attack imaginary enemies or evils
Origin:
with allusion to the story of Don Quixote tilting at windmills, believing they were giants
II
see tilt

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tilt at windmills — see tilt, 1
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Main Entry:windmill

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tilt at ˈwindmills idiom
to waste your energy attacking imaginary enemies From Cervantes' novel Don Quixote, in which the hero thought that the windmills he saw were giants and tried to fight them.
Main entry:tiltidiom

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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  • tilt at windmills — {v. phr.}, {literary} To do battle with an imaginary foe (after Cervantes Don Quixote). * /John is a nice guy but when it comes to departmental meetings he wastes everybody s time by constantly tilting at windmills./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • tilt at windmills — {v. phr.}, {literary} To do battle with an imaginary foe (after Cervantes Don Quixote). * /John is a nice guy but when it comes to departmental meetings he wastes everybody s time by constantly tilting at windmills./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • tilt at windmills — ► tilt at windmills attack imaginary enemies. [ORIGIN: with allusion to the story of Don Quixote tilting at windmills, believing they were giants.] Main Entry: ↑tilt …   English terms dictionary

  • tilt at windmills — A person who tilts at windmills, tries to do things that will never work in practice …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • tilt at windmills — attack imaginary enemies. [with allusion to the story of Don Quixote tilting at windmills, believing they were giants.] → tilt …   English new terms dictionary

  • tilt at windmills — verb a) To attack imaginary enemies. b) To go on a wild goose chase; to persistently engage in a futile activity See Also: throw ones cap over the windmill, mistake windmills for giants …   Wiktionary

  • tilt\ at\ windmills — v. phr. literary To do battle with an imaginary foe (after Cervantes Don Quixote). John is a nice guy but when it comes to departmental meetings he wastes everybody s time by constantly tilting at windmills …   Словарь американских идиом

  • tilt at windmills —    A person who tilts at windmills, tries to do things that will never work in practice.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • tilt at windmills — literary to waste time trying to deal with enemies or problems that do not exist. We re not tilting at windmills here. If we don t do something about these problems, our environment may be in serious danger …   New idioms dictionary

  • Tilt at windmills —   A person who tilts at windmills, tries to do things that will never work in practice …   Dictionary of English idioms

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