Get the FREE one-click dictionary software for Windows
or the iPhone/iPad and Android apps
Verb: flog a dead horse
Usage: Brit, informal
  1. Waste time on something that is a lost cause or likely to be unproductive
    "He kept trying to revive the failed project, but his colleagues felt he was just flogging a dead horse";
    - beat a dead horse [N. Amer, informal]

Derived forms: flogging a dead horse, flogs a dead horse