horse pill

plural horse pills

1. humorousidiomaticmildlysometimesA medicinal pill which is very large in size and is therefore difficult for a person to swallow.

   I'm lucky enough to remember to take my horse pill, much less drop it into a glass and wait 45 minutes.

   2002 June 26, “CNN.com - Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Vitamins and Alzheimer's”, in CNN, retrieved 25 Nov 2013

   1 more example

   I do know that I feel better when I remember to take my multivitamin, iron and vitamin D supplements, and the occasional fish oil horse pill.

   2008 December 31, Becky Jungbauer, “Vitamin Supplements: Fact Or Folklore?”, in Science 2.0, retrieved 25 Nov 2013

2. broadlyidiomaticA fact, proposal, claim, etc. that is difficult to accept or believe.

   Even pro-Soviet Communists will find the Geneva accord a difficult horse pill to swallow.

   1967 August 26, Harry Schwartz, “Answer To Soviet Shift: China”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 25 Nov 2013, page 8A

   3 more examples

   Mac Carey, an aide to leading tax-cut crusaders in Congress, called the draft language in Reagan's radio speech "a horse pill. It's very difficult to swallow."

   1984 August 4, “Reagan will pledge to preserve tax cut, sources say”, in The News and Courier, retrieved 25 Nov 2013, page 8A

   Officials know that if this year's budget is a bitter pill to swallow, next year's will be a bitter horse pill.

   2002 June 20, Michael Cooper, “New York City Budget: The Deal”, in New York Times, retrieved 25 Nov 2013

   They need to swallow that big horse pill that is the West Virginia loss, forget about it and re-focus this week.

   2009 November 30, Guy Junker, “Junker: Panthers need to get over it”, in triblive.com, retrieved 25 Nov 2013

   Synonyms: hard pill to swallow

3. animal husbandryUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see horse, pill: a pill for horses, sometimes a large one.