1
: a horse or a figure like a horse behind which a hunter stalks game
2
: something used to mask a purpose
3
: a candidate put forward to divide the opposition or to conceal someone's real candidacy
Examples of stalking horse in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Horowitz sold him some forty archives and collections, for about $25 million, and routinely used him as a sounding board and a stalking horse.
—
Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Driving the news: Discount retail chain Big Lots entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, with a stalking horse agreement to boot.
—Kimberly Chin, Axios, 16 Sep. 2024
Lids' opening bid, known as the stalking horse bid, is 62% of the cost value of the retailer's inventory on hand at the time of the sale's closure date, estimated to equal about $4.25 million.
—Jc Reindl, Detroit Free Press, 10 Sep. 2024
Hezbollah remains a potent regional actor: a stalking horse for Iran, and a prop to the Syrian regime.
—Bilal Y. Saab, Foreign Affairs, 21 Jan. 2015
See all Example Sentences for stalking horse 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
Driving the news: Discount retail chain Big Lots entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, with a stalking horse agreement to boot.
—Kimberly Chin, Axios, 16 Sep. 2024
Lids' opening bid, known as the stalking horse bid, is 62% of the cost value of the retailer's inventory on hand at the time of the sale's closure date, estimated to equal about $4.25 million.
—Jc Reindl, Detroit Free Press, 10 Sep. 2024
Hezbollah remains a potent regional actor: a stalking horse for Iran, and a prop to the Syrian regime.
—Bilal Y. Saab, Foreign Affairs, 21 Jan. 2015
See all Example Sentences for stalking horse
Dictionary Entries Near stalking horse
Cite this Entry
“Stalking horse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stalking%20horse. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share