on the hoof

Meaning

1. Of livestock, not yet butchered.
2. (idiomatic) Alive; embodied in a living animal (including a human); in working order.
3. (idiomatic) Of a human activity, while standing, walking, or running; on foot.
4. (UK, idiomatic, informal) Without proper thought or preparation; done as one goes.

Translations

levend

Etymology

The literal sense concerning livestock has no more to it as a sum of parts than the corresponding sense of on foot does. A reference to humans being on the hoof occurs in a text from England in 1691.