beat a dead horse vs estimate

beat a dead horse

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

estimate

verb
  • To judge and form an opinion of the value of, from imperfect data. 

  • To calculate roughly, often from imperfect data. 

noun
  • A rough calculation or assessment of the value, size, or cost of something. 

  • A document (or verbal notification) specifying how much a job is likely to cost. 

  • An upper limitation on some positive quantity. 

How often have the words beat a dead horse and estimate occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )