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
The rooftop solar company agreed to sell assets including its Blue Raven Solar installation unit and new homes businesses to Complete Solaria Inc. as a stalking horse buyer for $45 million, according to a statement late Monday.
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Bloomberg, The Mercury News, 6 Aug. 2024
Donald Trump and his supporters on the right have sought to turn clean energy into a stalking horse for Chinese dominance, a driver of rising energy costs, or a globalist ploy.
—TIME, 30 July 2024
Moore was widely viewed as a stalking horse for an attack on wealth taxes.
—Ian Millhiser, Vox, 20 June 2024
The book is a mordant accounting of Hitler’s establishment enablers, from the right-wing media magnate Alfred Hugenberg to General Kurt von Schleicher, two of many characters who schemed to use him as a stalking horse for their own ambitions.
—The New Yorker, 12 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for stalking horse 
Bloomberg, The Mercury News, 6 Aug. 2024
Donald Trump and his supporters on the right have sought to turn clean energy into a stalking horse for Chinese dominance, a driver of rising energy costs, or a globalist ploy.
—TIME, 30 July 2024
Moore was widely viewed as a stalking horse for an attack on wealth taxes.
—Ian Millhiser, Vox, 20 June 2024
The book is a mordant accounting of Hitler’s establishment enablers, from the right-wing media magnate Alfred Hugenberg to General Kurt von Schleicher, two of many characters who schemed to use him as a stalking horse for their own ambitions.
—The New Yorker, 12 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for stalking horse
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stalking horse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Stalking horse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stalking%20horse. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
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