Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that does not start.
  • noun An idea, proposal, or person with no chance of being accepted or successful.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a person with a record of failing.
  • noun A horse that fails to run in a race for which it has been entered.
  • noun A proposal that will not receive serious consideration by those with authority to decide.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A project that has no chance of success
  • noun A horse that does not run in a race for which it has been entered

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person with a record of failing; someone who loses consistently
  • noun a horse that fails to run in a race for which it has been entered

Etymologies

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