darkhorseとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Originally an allusion to an unknown horse with a dark coat winning a race, as used in the 1831 novel The Young Duke by Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881).

発音

名詞

dark horse (plural dark horses)

1. (idiomatic) Someone who possesses talents or favorable characteristics that are not known or expected by others.
   • 1952, Daphne Du Maurier, “Monte Verità”, in The Apple Tree:

     ‘She’s a dark horse,’ he said. ‘She knows just as much about climbing mountains as you or I. In fact, she was ahead of me the whole time, and I lost her.’

   • 2005, Steve Augarde, Celandine, London: Corgi Books, published 2006, →ISBN, page 13:

     As she pulled the door closed behind her, she heard the nurse say, “Well! You’re a dark horse, I must say! Do you know that extraordinary-looking girl?”

   • 2009, Sophie Kinsella, Twenties Girl: A Novel, London: Black Swan, published 2010, →ISBN, page 183:

     “Well!” Genevieve laughs – the kind of bright, trilling laugh you give when you’re really quite annoyed about something. “Ed, you are a dark horse! I had no idea you had a girlfriend!”

2. (idiomatic, politics) A candidate for an election who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice.
   • 2025 May 11, Jason Horowitz, Emma Bubola, Elizabeth Dias, Patricia Mazzei, “How a Quiet American Cardinal Became Pope”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     That left Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69 — a quiet American dark horse who had, surprisingly, emerged in the evening’s vote — as a source of particular interest.

3. (horse racing) A horse whose capabilities are not known.
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dark,‎ horse.

派生語

• darkhorse

参考

• underdog
• black sheep
• black horse

参照

Further reading

• dark horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia