stalking horse

noun stalk·ing horse \ ˈstȯ-kiŋ- \

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

Definition of stalking horse

1 : a horse or a figure like a horse behind which a hunter stalks game

2 : something used to mask a purpose

3 : a candidate put forward to divide the opposition or to conceal someone's real candidacy

See stalking horse defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of stalking horse from the Web

Companies selling assets in bankruptcy often seek to name a stalking horse to set a floor price to encourage bidding.

— lillian rizzo and patrick fitzgerald, WSJ, "Fairfax Makes $300 Million Bid for Toys ‘R’ Us Canadian Stores," 20 Apr. 2018
Enduro has already secured stalking horse bidders for three of those packages.

— sandra baker, star-telegram, "Oil and gas company owned by prominent Fort Worth family files for bankruptcy | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 17 May 2018
At the same time, the debtors are of course continuing to work closely and cooperatively with our stalking horse bidder to ensure as smooth a transition as possible if the stalking horse bidder is ultimately the prevailing bidder.

— jonathan randles, WSJ, "Randles’s Take: Weinstein Co. Fate Likely Determined This Week," 30 Apr. 2018
Witor, owned by Blair Wyatt and trained by Todd Wyatt, with Eric Poretz in the irons, played stalking horse and bided his time throughout the course.

— maryanna skowronski, The Aegis, "Zanclus takes My Lady's Manor Steeplechase on a beautiful day for racing," 15 Apr. 2018
Most were thinly veiled production cars, stalking horses for models soon to arrive in the showroom, like Lincoln's Aviator.

— jim resnick, Ars Technica, "Jaw-dropping Genesis Essentia stole the show in NY—and it may never be built," 3 Apr. 2018
In chapter 11, GateHouse Media is acting as the lead bidder, also known as the stalking horse.

— peg brickley, WSJ, "Boston Herald Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection," 8 Dec. 2017
Bankruptcy trustee Greg Messer said in court papers that a stalking horse, or lead, bidder had offered $167,500 for each of 46 taxi medallions owned by Mr. Freidman’s companies that have been stranded in the two-year-old bankruptcy case.

— andrew scurria, WSJ, "New York Taxi Mogul’s Medallions Find a Buyer," 6 Sep. 2017
The EVs on display are mostly stalking horses for production cars, but none of them is ready for sale today.

— jonathan m. gitlin, Ars Technica, "Electric cars all the rage at Frankfurt Auto Show, but we can’t drive them yet," 13 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'stalking horse.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of stalking horse

1519

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

STALKING HORSE Defined for English Language Learners

stalking horse

noun

Definition of stalking horse for English Language Learners

: someone or something that is used to hide a true purpose; especially : a candidate for a political office or position who has no real chance of winning but is being used by a political party to weaken the support for an opposing party, to find out if another candidate might be successful, etc.