出自《伊索寓言》(Aesop's Fables),有一篇狗站馬槽的故事,說的是一頭狗躺在堆滿稻草的馬槽里,狗是不吃草的動物,而當馬或牛一走進稻草時,這頭狗卻朝著馬,??裣?,不準食草動物享用。因此,“狗站馬槽”就成了一個家喻戶曉的成語而進入英語中,常用來比喻a person who prevents others from enjoying sth that is useless to himself; a churlish fellow who will neither use a thing himself nor let others use it,諷刺那些占據(jù)說職位或某些物質(zhì)卻不做事的人。
a dog in the manger是個名詞性短語,常與系動詞連用,充當表語(主語補足語)
eg:He borrowed a lot of books from the library,but he didn't read a book.He was really a dog in the manger.
There are some officials who are only the dogs in the manger.
Smith was a dog in the manger over that roll of wire;it was no use whatever to him,but he wouldn't let us have it.