Hobson's choice

From Hobson + -’s + choice, widely claimed to have been named after Thomas Hobson (c. 1544–1631) of Cambridge, England, who rented horses and had an extensive stable, but is said to have required each customer to take the horse in the stall closest to the door, to prevent the best horses from always being chosen and becoming overused.^[1]

The Oxford English Dictionary also suggests^[1] an alternative etymology based on a 1607 work, The Pleasant Conceites of Old Hobson,^[2] which refers to one William Hobson (died 1581), a haberdasher from London, who is said to have been unable to recognize his own horse, and so had the habit of waiting at stables until other people had claimed their horses as the one remaining had to be his.^[3] This story is most likely fictional as it is identical to one entitled “Of the Two Yong Men that Rode to Walsingham” in Mery Tales and Quick Answeres (1530).^[4]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌhɒbs(ə)nz ˈt͡ʃɔɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhɑbsənz ˈt͡ʃɔɪs/

• Audio (General American):

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• Rhymes: -ɔɪs
• Hyphenation: Hob‧son’s choice

Hobson's choice (plural Hobson's choices)

1. (idiomatic)
   1. A situation where a person is presented with the illusion of a free choice, but in reality there is only one option available: accepting the offer or having nothing at all.

      Synonym: nonchoice

      • [1670, J[ohn] R[ay], “Proverbial Phrases and Forms of Speech that are Not Entire Sentences. [Hobsons Choice.]”, in A Collection of English Proverbs […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] John Hayes, printer to the University, for W. Morden, →OCLC, page 181:

        A man is ſaid to have Hobſons choice given him, vvhen he muſt either take vvhat is left him, or chooſe vvhether he vvill have any part or no.]

      • 1847, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter VIII, in The Crater; or, Vulcan’s Peak. A Tale of the Pacific. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Burgess, Stringer & Co., →OCLC, pages 116–117:

        Several other marriages took place, the scarcity of subjects making it somewhat hazardous to delay: when Hobson's choice is placed before one, deliberation is of no great use.

      • 1883 (date written; published 1884), George Bernard Shaw, chapter V, in An Unsocial Socialist, London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co., […], published 1887, →OCLC, book I, page 71:

        In other words, they might go to the devil and starve—Hobson's choice!—for all the other factories were owned by men who offered no better terms.

      • 2009 November 20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s life and stories”, in The New York Times Book Review‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 August 2025:

        This Hobson’s choice is the beating heart of "Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life." Any writer might wonder what he'd do in such a case.

      • 2011 January 13, Lawrence Wright, “Lebanon’s Tragic Hero”, in The New Yorker‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 June 2023:

        Such Hobson's choices are the stuff of high drama, but unfortunately for poor, lovely Lebanon it is a tragedy that never seems to end.

      • 2022, Stephen King, chapter 8, in Fairy Tale […], New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 132:

        "Hobson's Choice." He was still stroking Radar, long glides of his hand from nape to tail. "In the end, it seems to me that one or two good months are better than six bad ones. If it works at all, that is."

   2. (by extension, loosely) A choice between several undesirable options; Sophie's choice.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dilemma

2. (Cockney rhyming slang) The voice.

   Synonym: (ellipsis) Hobson's

   • 1959, Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, Hancock’s Half Hour, season 6; quoted in “Hobson’s (choice) n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, 2026:

     He's claiming copyright on his hobson's. / I beg your pardon. / His hobson's choice—his voice.

• (illusion of free choice): beggars can't be choosers, take it or leave it
• (choice between undesirable options): between a rock and a hard place, between the devil and the deep blue sea, Thesaurus:in a dilemma

• Hobson's choice on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “Hobson’s choice, n.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Hobson's (choice) n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present