high horse

/haɪ hɔrs/

Other forms: high horses

If your sister tells you to "get off your high horse," she means that you're acting snobby or self-righteous, and she wants you to cut it out.

You'll know if someone is on his high horse, because he will behave as though he's superior to everyone around him, almost like a haughty king riding his horse past his lowly subjects. In fact, this is most likely where the saying comes from: medieval landowners and soldiers were known to ride large horses to emphasize their power and superiority over their subjects. The phrase high horse grew to mean "pompous or self-righteous" from there.

Definitions of high horse

1. noun

   an attitude of arrogant superiority
   “get off your high horse and admit you are wrong”

   type of:

   attitude, mental attitude

   a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways