closed the stable door after the horse had bolted

A form of close the stable door after the horse has bolted — To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism that is too late (after the first failure instead of before).

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Meanings

verb
  1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of close the stable door after the horse has bolted
Cite this entry
APA

closed the stable door after the horse had bolted. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/closed%20the%20stable%20door%20after%20the%20horse%20had%20bolted

MLA

“closed the stable door after the horse had bolted.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/closed%20the%20stable%20door%20after%20the%20horse%20had%20bolted. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “closed the stable door after the horse had bolted,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/closed%20the%20stable%20door%20after%20the%20horse%20had%20bolted.

Source: closed the stable door after the horse had bolted on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.