| − | A '''''dog in the manger''''' is an [[idiom|idiomatic]] expression that is meant to describe a person who [[spite|spitefully]] refuses to let someone else benefit from something for which they have no use. "We asked our neighbor for the fence posts he had left over, but, like a '''dog in the manger''', he threw them out rather than give them to us." | + | A '''''dog in the manger''''' is an [[idiom]]atic expression that is meant to describe a person who [[spite]]fully refuses to let someone else benefit from something for which they have no use. "We asked our neighbor for the fence posts he had left over, but, like a '''dog in the manger''', he threw them out rather than give them to us." |
| − | The phrase comes from one of [[Aesop]]'s fables about a dog lying in a [[manger]] full of hay. When an ox tries to eat some hay, the dog bites him, despite the fact that the hay is of no use to the dog. | + | The phrase comes from one of [[Aesop]]'s fables about a dog lying in a [[manger]] full of hay. When an [[ox]] tries to eat some hay, the dog bites him, despite the fact that the hay is of no use to the dog. |