Meaning of horse latitudes | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The warm, subtropical bands which encircle the globe between approximately 30 and 35 degrees both north and south of the Equator, characterized by high atmospheric pressure and dry variable winds ranging from calm to light.
   informal, plural, plural-only
2. A condition of relative inactivity, calm, or lethargy.
   figuratively, plural, plural-only

Equivalents

Examples

“At the equator, an immense mist seems permanently to encircle the globe. It is known as the cloud-ring. The function of the cloud-ring is to temper the heat of the tropics. . . . These are what are called horse latitudes. It was here that navigators of bygone ages were accustomed to cast their horses into the sea to lighten the ship in stormy weather.”

“The north boundary of Zone A is a belt of high barometric pressure known to many generations of seafaring men as the "Horse Latitudes." Here air currents are divergent and there is relatively low humidity.”

“The 27,000-mile course starts in November in the Bay of Biscay on the coast of France; points south through the horse latitudes and doldrums, past Africa to the bottom of the world; rounds Cape Horn; then turns north to home.”

“The captain used the idle Horse Latitudes to train and prepare the remainder of the crew.”

“After months in the horse latitudes, retail and auto sales are scudding along at a brisk pace.”

“These are the horse latitudes of fashion, when it's O.K. not to think about clothes, if only for 15 minutes.”

“The Senate version of the House measure now bobs quietly in the horse latitudes of legislative inaction.”

“The Mets were once the clipper ship of baseball, but a demoralizing 4-8 run against the American League East has left them adrift in the horse latitudes.”

CEFR level