goat

Related to goat: gout

(as) fouled up as Hogan's goat

dated The origin of the phrase "Hogan's goat" is uncertain.
1. In a great state of confusion, chaos, or disorganization. We need someone to get this office in order because it's currently as screwed up as Hogan's goat. Leave it to Miller to take over and have every fouled up as Hogan's goat as a day.
2. Dealing with mental anguish or illness. Believe me, you're not the only soldier to survive Iraq fouled up as Hogan's Goat. Have you seen a psychiatrist or anything?
See also: foul, goat, up

(as) messed up as Hogan's goat

dated The origin of the phrase "Hogan's goat" is uncertain.
1. In a great state of confusion, chaos, or disorganization. We need someone to get this office in order because it's currently as screwed up as Hogan's goat. Leave it to Miller to take over and have every messed up as Hogan's goat as a day.
2. Dealing with mental anguish or illness. Believe me, you're not the only soldier to survive Iraq messed up as Hogan's Goat. Have you seen a psychiatrist or anything?
See also: goat, mess, up

(as) screwed up as Hogan's goat

dated The origin of the phrase "Hogan's goat" is uncertain.
1. In a great state of confusion, chaos, or disorganization. We need someone to get this office in order because it's currently as screwed up as Hogan's goat. Leave it to Miller to take over and have every screwed up as Hogan's goat as a day.
2. Dealing with mental anguish or illness. Believe me, you're not the only soldier to survive Iraq screwed up as Hogan's Goat. Have you seen a psychiatrist or anything?
See also: goat, screw, up

act the goat

To behave comically or playfully, often to amuse others. Joe never acts the goat—he's always serious. If you continue to act the goat, you're going to have to leave the classroom.
See also: act, goat

Are you still riding the goat?

Are you no longer married? A: "Are you still riding the goat?" B: "I'm still married! Why are you asking? What did you hear?"
See also: riding, still

get (one's) goat

To annoy or anger one. That guy just gets my goat every time he opens his mouth.
See also: get, goat

GOAT

An acronym for "greatest of all time," referring to the person considered the best to ever compete, perform, or participate in a particular game or field, typically a certain sport. A lot of older guys still insist it's Jordan, even though LeBron is clearly the GOAT.

goat's jig

obsolete Sexual intercourse. I think I overheard two of the servants doing the goat's jig last night!
See also: jig

play the goat

To behave comically or playfully, often to amuse others. Joe never plays the goat—he's always serious. If you continue to play the goat, you're going to have to leave the classroom.
See also: goat, play

separate the men from the boys

To distinguish or separate the experienced, competent, or strong participants from those who are not. We've had some easy games so far in the season, but this next one is going to separate the men from the boys. This is a business that separates the men from the boys—don't get involved unless you have what it takes.
See also: boy, men, separate

separate the sheep from the goats

To separate the good from the bad. In this Biblical phrase, sheep represent the good and goats the bad. When you choose the students for your homeroom, don't separate the sheep from the goats and give me all the troublemakers!
See also: goat, separate, sheep

skin a goat

obsolete slang To vomit. Primarily heard in US. The sight of the dead body caused several rookies on the squad to skin the goat right then and there.
See also: goat, skin
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

get someone's goat

Fig. to irritate someone; to annoy and arouse someone to anger. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get your goat. Jean got Sally's goat and Sally made quite a fuss about it.
See also: get, goat

separate the men from the boys

 and separate the sheep from the goats
Fig. to separate the competent from those who are less competent. (Not necessarily just about males.) This is the kind of task that separates the men from the boys. Working in a challenging place like this really separates the sheep from the goats.
See also: boy, men, separate
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

get someone's goat

Annoy or anger someone, as in By teasing me about that article I wrote, he's trying to get my goat, but I won't let him . The origin of this expression is disputed. H.L. Mencken held it came from using a goat as a calming influence in a racehorse's stall and removing it just before the race, thereby making the horse nervous. However, there is no firm evidence for this origin. [c. 1900]
See also: get, goat

separate the men from the boys

Distinguish between mature, experienced individuals and novices, as in The picket line will separate the men from the boys in the union. The idiom is used without respect to gender. [c. 1930]
See also: boy, men, separate

separate the sheep from the goats

Distinguish between good and bad individuals, or superior and inferior ones. For example, In a civil war where both sides commit atrocities, you can't separate the sheep from the goats . This term refers to Jesus's prophecy in the New Testament (Matthew 25:32) that the sheep (that is, the compassionate) will sit on God's right hand (and find salvation), and the goats (the hard-hearted) will sit on the left (and be sent to damnation).
See also: goat, separate, sheep
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

act the goat

BRITISH, INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONED
If someone acts the goat, they behave in a silly way. A bunch of football fans were acting the goat and we moved to get away from them. Note: Goats are often associated with unpredictable behaviour.
See also: act, goat

get someone's goat

INFORMAL
If someone or something gets your goat, they annoy you. If there's one thing that gets my goat, it's some fashion critic telling us what we can and can't wear. It was a bad performance, but what really got the media's goat was the manager's refusal to take the blame. Note: This expression may be connected with the early 20th century practice in America of putting goats in the same stable as racehorses, since the goats seemed to have a calming effect. If someone stole the goat, the horse would be upset and its performance would be affected.
See also: get, goat

separate the sheep from the goats

or

sort out the sheep from the goats

If you separate the sheep from the goats or sort out the sheep from the goats, you examine a group of things or people and decide which are good and which are bad. It is getting harder and harder to sort out the sheep from the goats among the 4,000 or so titles for children that are published every year. Testing exists to separate the sheep from the goats. Note: The Bible says that on the Day of Judgment, Jesus will divide his sheep from the goats. The sheep represent those who are going to heaven, and the goats represent those who are going to hell. (Matthew 25:32)
See also: goat, separate, sheep
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

get someone's goat

irritate someone. informal
1998 Andrea Ashworth Once in a House on Fire It got his goat when he caught me…with my nose stuck in a book turned the wrong way up.
See also: get, goat

play (or act) the (giddy) goat

fool around; act irresponsibly. informal
See also: goat, play

separate (or sort out) the men from the boys

show or prove which people in a group are truly competent, brave, or mature.
1968 House & Garden The Dry Martini…is a drink that will quickly separate the men from the boys and the girls from their principles.
See also: boy, men, separate

separate the sheep from the goats

divide people or things into superior and inferior groups.
This expression alludes to the parable of the Last Judgement in Matthew 25:32–3: ‘And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left’.
See also: goat, separate, sheep
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

act/play the ˈgoat

(informal) deliberately behave in a silly or foolish way: Stop acting the goat or I’ll send you out. I’m warning you.
See also: act, goat, play

get somebody’s ˈgoat

(informal) annoy somebody very much: That woman really gets my goat. She does nothing but complain. It really gets my goat when people smoke in non-smoking areas.
See also: get, goat

sort out/separate the ˌsheep from the ˈgoats

separate the good people from the bad people: The exams at the end of the first year usually separate the sheep from the goats.This comes from the belief that on Judgement Day (= the day the world ends) God will judge everybody who ever lived and decide who was good (= the sheep) and who was bad (= the goats).
See also: goat, out, separate, sheep, sort
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

get someone’s goat

tv. to irritate someone. Don’t let Mary get your goat. She’s just irritable today.
See also: get, goat

goat

n. a fast and powerful car; a Pontiac GTO. His goat conked out on him.

skin a goat

tv. to empty one’s stomach; to vomit. (From the bleating sound of the wretching.) Was my cooking so bad that everybody had to skin a goat?
See also: goat, skin
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

get someone's goat, to

To annoy someone, to make a person lose his or her temper. This term is definitely American in origin, but its precise provenance has been lost. H. L. Mencken was told that it came from the practice of putting a goat inside a skittish racehorse’s stall in order to calm it down. Removing the goat shortly before the race would upset the horse and reduce its chances of winning, a ruse supposedly planned by a gambler who had bet on the horse’s losing. This explanation seems more far-fetched than a possible connection of the term with the verb “to goad.” In any event, it came into use about 1900.
See also: get

separate the sheep from the goats, to

To sort the good from the bad, the superior from the inferior. This term comes from the Bible, in which Jesus seems to make an analogy between sheep and goats and those who would sit at God’s right hand and left hand (Matthew 25:32). In the fourteenth century John Wycliffe was more explicit, stating, “Schepe that schal be savid schal be on hys rigt honde [sheep that shall be saved shall be on his right hand].” The term has been so used ever since.
See also: separate, sheep
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer

get one's goat

To make angry. Many racehorses develop a strong attachment to their stable mascots—dogs, cats, chickens, and, especially, goats. The mascots provide a calming effect— they're the horse's security blankets. One will live in or close to “its” horse's stall and will accompany the horse to racetracks across the country. Horses become very upset when their mascots aren't around, so crafty stablehands would steal away a rival horse's pal. Thus deprived, the horse would become angry when someone got its goat.
See also: get, goat
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • (as) fouled up as Hogan's goat
  • (as) messed up as Hogan's goat
  • (as) screwed up as Hogan's goat
  • hogan
  • great minds
  • great minds think alike
  • get someone's goat, to
  • (as) sure as eggs (is eggs)
  • a penny for them
  • get goat
References in periodicals archive
Goat cheese is formed from goats milk which contents the similar fat as cow'EUR (TM)s milk and has a higher proportion of medium chain fatty acid.
Goat Cheese Market to Witness Remarkable Growth by 2025 / Carmelis Goat Cheese, Eurial, Savencia Fromage & Dairy, Delamere Dairy
Of the industry's total milk production in the last five years, an average of 64 percent comes from dairy cattle, 33 percent from carabaos and three percent from goats. "There is a need to increase support to the local dairy goat industry to suffice the increasing market demand for milk," NDA said.
USDA allocates P1.6 billion funding for goat farming
Adrienne and Laney were also the winners of the Overall Market Meat Goat Champion and Reserve Champion banners.
Saline County 4-H Meat Goat Show winners announced Goats
government donates food commodities - in this case, dairy goats - to countries requesting assistance in combatting hunger and malnutrition.
NDA eyes unused USAID fund to boost PH dairy production
Speaking about the special diet and facilities given to the goat, he added, "His diet includes almonds and cashews.
Goat with Allah written on it up for sale for whopping Rs 8 lakh in Gorakhpur market
Twitter user, @hey_jjae, shared an image of the goat along with a picture of Jae Park, vocalist and electric guitarist of South Korean rock band Day6 and compared the two: "Handsome goat."
Viral: 'Handsome' goat from Malaysia becomes internet sensation
Two baby goats climb on the back of participants in the routines at Bellcraig Farm in Glenrothes.
You've goat to be kidding.
REUSING THE SAME BUCKSCharles Nyairo, a goat farmer from Kisii County, said that at the farm level, most goatkeepers, unlike their cattle counterparts, do not maintain records, making it harder to do breeding and know the output of the animals."Many farmers do selection for breeding without records?
Here's what is ailing dairy goat farming
Table I.- The time of estrous cycle in different seasons in Dazu black goat.
Reproductive Characteristics of Dazu Black Goats, a Newly Discovered Chinese Indigenous Breed Resource with High Litter Sizes
Goat meat has the same amount of protein as beef, with about half the calories.
10 AMAZING BENEFITS OF OWNING A GOAT
Muscat: Software billionaire Bill Gates has said that teaching rural women to raise healthier goats has made them gain financial independence.
Video: Can goats empower women? Bill Gates says yes
The unexpected text displayed a photo of a kooky-eyed goat standing innocently in the back of our family van, and the message marked my fathers transition to goat farmer.
Crowdsourcing the American Dream: By seeking out information and supplies online, an enterprising man achieves his aspiration of becoming a goat farmer
In Pakistan, goat population is on the top among all the livestock species, with a total population of 72.2 million heads with 876 tons of meat production during the year 2016-17.
Probiotics in goat production
One day recently, a new visitor was taking in the scene: a mountain goat. Just weeks earlier, she had been grazing the alpine meadows of Olympic National Park, but wildlife officials there decided she had overstayed her welcome.
Goats Go Home: Olympic National Park's nonnative mountain goats are being rounded up and shipped to the Cascade Mountains
Earlier, the farmers had threatened to snub the Kimalel goat auction, fearing part of their proceeds will be deducted towards NHIF contributions.
DP Ruto parts with Sh10m for 1,000 goats at Baringo's Kimalel auction