hobby horse

See also: hobbyhorse and hobby-horse

English

A child with a hobby horse (sense 2).

A man with a hobby horse (sense 4).

A dandy or hobby horse (sense 5).

English Wikipedia has an article on:

hobby horse

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• hobbyhorse, hobby-horse

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General American):

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Noun

hobby horse (plural hobby horses)

2. (originally) The Irish hobby, an extinct breed of horse.
4. A child's toy consisting of a (usually wooden or cloth) horse's head mounted on a stick.
6. (figuratively) A topic about which someone loves to talk at great length.

   Don't ask him about global warming: it's his favourite hobby horse, you'll never get away.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 250:

     The squire was now on his hobby-horse, as we say; he had placed the old worn fur cap by his side on the sofa, leaving his bald head and grey hairs exposed.

8. A puppet-like costume used in some traditional dances and festivals that gives its wearer the appearance of a man on horseback.
10. (cycling, historical) An early bicycle with no pedals or brakes.

    Synonyms: dandy horse, draisienne

    • 2015, Chris Boardman, The Biography of the Modern Bike: The Ultimate History of Bike Design, Hachette, →ISBN, page 10:

      British users rechristened the baron's invention the hobby horse then the dandy horse, because draisines became very fashionable with Regency gentlemen.

Derived terms

• hobbyhorsical
• 'Obby 'Oss

Translations

child's toy

Afrikaans: stokperdjie Chinese: Mandarin: 竹馬 / 竹马 (zh) (zhúmǎ) Danish: kæphest (da) c Dutch: stokpaard (nl) n, stokpaardje (nl) n Finnish: keppihevonen (fi) French: dada (fr) m, cheval bâton m, cheval chaussette m Galician: cabaliño de xoguete m German: Steckenpferd (de) n Hungarian: vesszőparipa (hu) sg Italian: cavalluccio di legno m Macedonian: коњче n (konjče) Norwegian: Bokmål: kjepphest (no) m Portuguese: cavalo de pau (pt) m Russian: конёк (ru) m (konjók) Spanish: caballito de palo m, caballito (es) m Swedish: käpphäst (sv) c Turkish: oyuncak at

topic about which someone loves to talk

Afrikaans: stokperdjie Danish: kæphest (da) c Dutch: stokpaardje (nl) n Finnish: lempiaihe, keppihevonen (fi) French: dada (fr) m, violon d'Ingres (fr) m German: Steckenpferd (de) n Hungarian: vesszőparipa (hu) Italian: cavallo di battaglia m Norwegian: Bokmål: kjepphest (no) m Polish: konik (pl) m Russian: конёк (ru) m (konjók) Spanish: monotema m, caballito de batalla m, caballo de batalla m, caballo batalloso m Swedish: käpphäst (sv) c

puppet-like costume

French: cheval-jupon (fr) m, masque-cheval m

early bicycle

Dutch: draisine f French: draisienne (fr) f

Verb

hobby horse (third-person singular simple present hobby horses, present participle hobby horsing, simple past and past participle hobby horsed)

1. (nautical) to pitch back and forth

See also

• rocking horse