- wild goose chase (n.)
[wild goose chase 词源字典]
- 1592, first attested in "Romeo and Juliet," where it evidently is a figurative use of an earlier (but unrecorded) literal sense in reference to a kind of follow-the-leader steeplechase. Wild goose (as opposed to a domesticated one) is attested in late Old English (wilde gos).[wild goose chase etymology, wild goose chase origin, 英语词源]