to fire into the wrong flock

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

is a metaphorical expression used at the West, denoting that one has mistaken his object, as when a sportsman fires at a different flock from what he intended.


I said, when General J--- cocked his gun and began his war upon the Senate, he would find he had fired into the wrong flock.--Crockett's Speech, Tour, p. 81.

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