bay at the moon

bay at the moon

To make appeals in vain. Good luck talking to the principal, but I think you'll just be baying at the moon—I doubt you'll get a better grade.
See also: bay, moon
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

bay at the moon

or

howl at the moon

LITERARY
If you bay at the moon or howl at the moon, you waste your time and energy trying to do something which is impossible or trying to get something which you cannot have. You're looking for the perfect man and he doesn't exist. You're baying at the moon.
See also: bay, moon
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

bay at the moon

clamour or make an outcry to no effect.
The barking of dogs at a full moon has been a metaphor for futile activity since the mid 17th century.
See also: bay, moon
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • howl
  • bark at the moon
  • you'll catch your death
  • you'll catch your death (of cold)
  • go all out
  • go all out for something
  • you'll never guess
  • from Missouri, I'm
  • all better
  • (one) should be so lucky
References in periodicals archive
My dogs may bay at the moon, the owl on the cliff may scatter demoniac laughter, but they cannot outnoise those obstreperous gulls."
OUR LOST SEA
"Stepping outside is to put you in a place where you can only carp and criticise and bay at the moon." UUP MLA for Strangford Philip Smith said remaining in the EU was a "no-brainer".
WE'RE EUNITED OVER EUROPE.. Coalition of parties warn against vote for a Brexit
It does us little profit to bay at the moon of price, price, price, if we can't deliver solid proof to our clients and prospects of the clear advantages--particularly come claim time--of working with us instead of the latest online or big box store insurance game-changer.
Insurance is not a commodity: a New Year's resolution: value over price
Senator John Sharp Williams, who retired in 1923 saying, "I would rather be a hound dog and bay at the moon from my Mississippi plantation (located in Cedar Grove in Yazoo County) than remain in the U.S.
Mississippi matters of fact
Which is probably what motivates him to come out with remarks like this: "All I know how to do is work, prowl, bay at the moon like a British hound, and write."
A Los Angeles lad; Lorne Jackson finds an unlikely Midland inspiration for a classic American crime writer's new novel
No matter how much some of my colleagues wish to bay at the moon in defence of SAT, the Afghan government's woeful track record is the strategic advisory team's legacy.
On target? Canada's little-known Strategic Advisory Team (SAT) is shut down. But what does that mean in the long run?
Ms Margaret Hodge has firmly travelled the two extra stops and has alighted in her own constituency to bay at the moon.
Trouble on home front
Unquestioning devotees of Lincoln--who still abound in academia, media, and Internet alike--may complain, accuse, marginalize, slander, or bay at the moon, but truth is in the process of being revealed to be on the side of those who believe Lincoln to be quite a different man than the one that has been presented by American historians.
An honest look at Abe: Abraham Lincoln is usually regarded as a saintly figure, but a detailed book about Lincoln shows that much of what historians say about him is pure fiction
It's when we should paw the ground and gallop or bay at the moon - a kind of last chance saloon before winter sets in.
Autumn and the art of un-packed living