Don't look a gift horse in the mouth

Meaning

Don't be ungrateful when you receive a gift.

Origin

This expression is a classic amongst proverbs, that is, 'short and expressive sayings, in common use, which are recognized as conveying some accepted truth or useful advice'. The phrase is often expressed as 'never look a gift horse in the mouth'.

As horses develop they grow more teeth and their existing teeth begin to change shape and project further forward. Determining a horse's age from its teeth is a specialist task, but it can be done. This incidentally is also the source of another teeth/age related phrase - long in the tooth.

The advice given in the 'don't look...' proverb is: when given a present, be grateful for your good fortune and don't look for more by examining it to assess its value.

As with most proverbs the origin is ancient and unknown. We have some clues with this one however. The phrase was originally "don't look a given horse in the mouth" and first appears in print in 1546 in John Heywood's A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, where he gives it as:

"No man ought to looke a geuen hors in the mouth."

Heywood is an interesting character in the development of English. He was employed at the courts of Henry VIII and Mary I as a singer, musician, and playwright. His Proverbs is a comprehensive collection of those known at the time and includes many that are still with us:

- Many hands make light work.
- Rome wasn't built in a day.
- A good beginning makes a good ending.

and so on. These were expressed in the literary language of the day, as in "would yee both eat your cake, and have your cake?", but the modern versions are their obvious descendents.

We can't attribute these to Heywood himself, he collected them from the literary works of the day and from common parlance. He can certainly be given the credit for introducing many proverbs to a wide and continuing audience and that includes one that Shakespeare later borrowed - All's well that ends well.

See also - 'straight from the horse's mouth'.

See other - phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.

See also: the List of Proverbs.