beat a dead horse

Definition

To persist or continue far beyond any purpose, interest or reason.

Example Sentences

• "After having shown us three hours of instructional and safety videos, the inspector was simply beating a dead horse by telling us to buckle up as we got into the van."
• "The library director believes the argument about “professionalism” is a “dead horse we should stop beating.”"
• "A friend, the political scientist Irving Bernstein, told me that political scientists and historians are inclined to regard the question of objectivity as a dead horse that one should stop beating, and maintained that it is not the scholar but the lay person who has problems with objectivity."