horse
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- (horse–hoarse merger)
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hô(r)s, IPA(key): /hɔːs/
Audio (Received Pronunciation); “a horse”: (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /hoɹs/, [ho̞ɹs][1]
Audio (General American): (file)
- (General Australian) enPR: hô(r)s, IPA(key): /hoːs/, [ho̝ːs]
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)s
- Homophone: hoarse
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hô(r)s, IPA(key): /hɔːs/
- (without the horse–hoarse merger)
Etymology 1
From Middle English horse, hors, from Old English hors (“horse”), from Proto-West Germanic *hors, *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hrussą (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of car. Cognate with North Frisian hors (“horse”), West Frisian hoars (“horse”), Dutch ros, hors (“horse”), German Ross (“horse”), Danish hors (“horse”), Swedish russ, hors (“horse”), Icelandic hross, hors (“horse”).
Noun
horse (countable and uncountable, plural horses)
- A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.
- A cowboy's greatest friend is his horse.
- 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
- Athelstan Arundel walked home […] , foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
- 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
- The departure was not unduly prolonged. […] Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity.
- Any member of the species Equus ferus, including the Przewalski's horse and the extinct Equus ferus ferus.
- (zoology) Any current or extinct animal of the family Equidae, including zebras and asses.
- These bone features, distinctive in the zebra, are actually present in all horses.
- (military, sometimes uncountable) Cavalry soldiers (sometimes capitalized when referring to an official category).
- We should place two units of horse and one of foot on this side of the field.
- All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty together again.
- A component of certain games.
- (chess, informal) The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.
- Now just remind me how the horse moves again?
- (xiangqi) A xiangqi piece that moves and captures one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally.
- (chess, informal) The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.
- (slang) A large and sturdy person.
- Every linebacker they have is a real horse.
- (historical) A timber frame shaped like a horse, which soldiers were made to ride for punishment.
- Synonyms: Morgan's mule, Spanish donkey
- Equipment with legs.
- In gymnastics, a piece of equipment with a body on two or four legs, approximately four feet high, sometimes (pommel horse) with two handles on top.
- She's scored very highly with the parallel bars; let's see how she does with the horse.
- A frame with legs, used to support something.
- a clothes horse; a sawhorse
- In gymnastics, a piece of equipment with a body on two or four legs, approximately four feet high, sometimes (pommel horse) with two handles on top.
- (nautical) Type of equipment.
- A rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope.
- A breastband for a leadsman.
- An iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon.
- A jackstay.
- 1887, William Clark Russell, A Book for the Hammock:
- The old “horse” has made way for the “foot-rope", though we still retain the term “Flemish horse" for the short foot-rope at the top-sail yard-arms
- (mining) A mass of earthy matter, or rock of the same character as the wall rock, occurring in the course of a vein, as of coal or ore; hence, to take horse (said of a vein) is to divide into branches for a distance.
- (US) An informal variant of basketball in which players match shots made by their opponent(s), each miss adding a letter to the word "horse", with 5 misses spelling the whole word and eliminating a player, until only the winner is left. Also HORSE, H-O-R-S-E or H.O.R.S.E. (see
H-O-R-S-E on WikipediaWikipedia ). - (uncountable) The flesh of a horse as an item of cuisine.
- 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 46:
- She said: "I'm starved. I could eat a horse." I told her she was lying, because I had once eaten horse.
- (prison slang) A prison guard who smuggles contraband in or out for prisoners.
- 1980, Lee Harrington Bowker, Prison Victimization, page 117:
- This "horse" (a slang term for prison officers who smuggle contraband into the institution) was probably able "to stay in business" for such a long time because he only "packed" for powerful, trustworthy prisoners […]
- (dated, slang, among students) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination.
- (dated, slang, among students) Horseplay; tomfoolery.
- (poker slang) A player who has been staked, i.e. another player has paid for their buy-in and claims a percentage of any winnings.
Usage notes
The noun can be used attributively in compounds and phrases to add the sense of large and/or coarse.
Synonyms
- (animal): caple (obsolete or dialectal), widge (poetic or archaic), cheval (obsolete), horsy, nag, prad, steed; see also Thesaurus:horse
- (gymnastic equipment): pommel horse, vaulting horse
- (chess piece): knight
- (food): horseflesh, horsemeat
- (illegitimate study aid): dobbin, pony, trot
Hyponyms
(kinds of horse by physical attributes):
(kinds of horse by employment):
Derived terms
(Terms derived from horse (noun)):
- a camel is a horse designed by a committee
- a camel is a horse made by a committee
- a camel is a horse made by committee
- a-cock-horse
- African horse sickness
- ahorse
- and the horse you rode in on
- a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse
- antihorse
- Arab horse
- Arabian horse
- Asian wild horse
- Assateague horse
- Atlantic horse mackerel
- back the right horse
- back the wrong horse
- bat-horse
- bat horse
- Bay Horse
- behorsed
- bell-horse
- Berkley horse
- Black Forest horse
- black horse
- blood horse
- boathorse
- carthorse
- chamber horse
- change horses in midstream
- charley-horse
- charley horse
- charlie horse
- choose the wrong horse
- close the barn door after the horse has bolted
- close the stable door after the horse has been stolen
- close the stable door after the horse has bolted
- clothes-horse
- clotheshorse
- clothes horse
- coachhorse
- coach horse
- cock-horse
- covering horse
- cutting horse
- cutting-horse
- Dalecarlian horse
- dandy horse
- dandy-horse
- dark horse
- dark-horse
- darkhorse
- dawn horse
- dead horse
- devil's coach-horse
- devil's horse
- dishorse
- don't look a gift horse in the mouth
- draft horse
- draught horse
- drum horse
- Dzungarian horse
- eat like a horse
- enough to choke a horse
- fairies' horse
- film horse
- Finnhorse
- Finnish horse
- fjord horse
- Flemish horse
- flog a dead horse, beat a dead horse
- Florida horse conch
- forehorse
- from the horse's mouth
- get back on the horse that bucked one
- get off one's high horse
- gift horse
- grass mud horse
- healthy as a horse
- hebra
- henny
- high horse
- hobby horse
- hobby-horse
- hold one's horses
- hooden horse
- horned horse
- horseable
- horse and buggy
- horse and carriage
- horse and cart
- horse and foot
- horse and hattock
- Horse and Jockey
- horse and rabbit stew
- horse ant
- horseapple
- horse apple
- horse apples
- horse archer
- horse armor
- horse artillery
- horseback
- horseball
- horsebalm
- horsebarn
- horse bean
- horse-bee
- horse-bell
- horse blanket
- horse-block
- horseboat
- horse bot fly
- horsebound
- horsebox
- horse box
- horse boy
- horse brass
- horse-bread
- horsebreaker
- horse-breaker
- horsebreaking
- horsebreeder
- horsebrush
- horseburger
- horse bus
- horsecar, horse car
- horsecart
- horse-chestnut
- horse chestnut
- horsecloth
- horsecock
- horse cock
- horsecollar
- horse-collar
- horse collar
- horse-comb
- horse comb
- horse crab
- horsecraft
- horsecrap
- horsedealer
- horsedick
- horse dick
- horse doctor
- horsedom
- horse-drawn
- horse-drench
- horsedung
- horseface
- horse face
- horse-faced
- horse fair
- horsefeathers
- horse ferry
- horsefish
- horseflesh
- horse-fly
- horsefly
- horse fly
- horsefoot
- horsefucker
- Horsegate
- horse gentian
- horse girl
- horse-godmother
- horse gram
- horse guard
- horse guard wasp
- horsehair
- horsehead
- horse-head fiddle
- horsehead fiddle
- horse head fiddle
- horseheal
- horse-heal
- horseherd
- horsehide
- horse-hoarse merger
- horse hockey
- horse hoe
- horsehood
- horsehoof
- horse-hung
- horse iron
- horse-jockey
- horsekeeper
- horsekind
- horseknop
- horse latitudes
- horse-latitudes
- horselaugh
- horse laugh
- horselaughter
- horse leech
- horse-leech
- horseless
- horseless carriage
- horselet
- horse-like
- horselike
- horseling
- horse litter, horse-litter
- horseload
- horse-lock
- horselore
- horsely
- horse mackerel
- horseman
- horsemanship
- horse manure
- horse marine
- horsemaster
- horsemeat
- horsemilk
- horse-milliner
- horsemint
- horsemonger
- horse mushroom
- horse mussel
- horsen
- horse-nail
- horsenail
- horseness
- horse nettle
- horsenettle
- horsenostrilled
- horse of a different color
- horse of a different colour
- horse-opera
- horse opera
- horse-operatic
- horse parlor
- horse paste
- horseperson
- horse pill
- horse piss
- horse pistol
- horseplay
- horse-play
- horseplayer
- horsepond
- horsepoop
- horse power
- horsepower
- horse-power
- horsepox
- horse-pox
- horseproof
- horse puckey
- horse pucky
- horse-race
- horse race
- horse racing
- horseradish
- horse-radish
- horserake
- horse rider
- horserider
- horseriding
- horse salt
- horse scoop
- horse sense
- horses for courses
- horseshit
- horse shoe
- horseshoe
- horseshoer
- horse-shoe vetch
- horse show
- horse sickness
- horsesit
- horseskin
- horse soldier
- horse spray
- horse stance
- horse steroid
- horse-stinger
- horse tail
- horsetail
- horse thief
- horsethief
- horse tornado
- horse trade
- horsetrade
- horse trader
- horse-trader
- horsetrader
- horse trading
- horsetrading
- horse-trading
- horse trailer
- horse tranquilizer
- horsetwaddle
- horse-watcher
- horseway
- horsewear
- horseweed
- horsewheel
- horsewhip
- horse whip
- horse whisperer
- horse-whispering
- horsewoman
- horsewood
- horseworm
- horse-yard
- horsey, horsie, horsy
- horsiculture
- hung like a horse
- Icelandic horse
- I could eat a horse
- iron horse
- Kaimanawa horse
- Kansas horse plague
- Kicking Horse Pass
- Kimberley horse disease
- Latvian horse
- led horse
- light horse
- lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen
- lock the stable door after the horse has bolted
- market horse
- master of the horse
- mechanical horse
- merhorse
- Mongolian wild horse
- Morgan horse
- mount a horse foaled by an acorn
- mount the high horse
- multihorse
- my kingdom for a horse
- never look a gift horse in the mouth
- no horse in that race
- no horse in this race
- no horse run
- nonhorse
- Numinbah horse sickness
- of course my horse
- old horse
- one-horse
- one-horse lawyer
- one-horse race
- one-horse town
- on one's high horse
- pack-horse
- pack horse, packhorse
- paint horse
- pantomime horse
- pick the wrong horse
- piss like a horse
- plowhorse, ploughhorse
- pommel horse
- post horse
- posthorse
- post-horse
- Potomac horse fever
- prehorse
- Prejevalsky's horse
- Prjevalsky's horse
- Przhevalski's horse
- Przhevalsky's horse
- put the cart before the horse
- put the saddle on the right horse
- quarter horse
- racehorse
- rare as rocking horse shit
- rear-horse
- red horse
- redhorse
- ride a horse foaled by an acorn
- ride a horse foaled of an acorn
- ride the cotton horse
- ride the high horse
- riding horse
- river horse
- rocking horse
- rocking-horse
- rocking-horse shit
- rocking horse shit
- saddle horse
- salt horse
- sawhorse
- saw-horse
- sea-horse
- sea horse, seahorse
- see a man about a horse
- shave horse
- shaving horse
- shire horse
- showhorse
- shut the stable door after the horse has bolted
- sick as a horse
- side horse
- snowhorse
- spring horse
- stalking-horse
- stalking horse
- steel horse
- stone-horse
- straight from the horse's mouth
- strong as a horse
- stud horse
- sumpter horse
- superhorse
- swap horses in midstream
- sweat like a horse
- take horse
- the grey mare is the better horse
- towel-horse
- trace horse
- Trojan horse
- Trojan-horse
- troop horse
- underhorsed
- Vale of White Horse
- vaulting horse
- warhorse
- war horse
- war-horse
- water horse
- waterhorse
- werehorse
- wheelhorse
- wheel-horse
- wheel horse
- Whitehorse
- white horse
- wild horse
- willing horse
- wind horse
- witch's horse
- wooden horse
- workhorse
- work horse
- working horse
- work like a horse
- Yakutian horse
- yardhorse
- you can lead a horse to water
- you can't put the shit back in the horse
- zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse
- zeehorse
- zorse
Descendants
Translations
members of the species Equus ferus
| ||||||||||||
cavalry soldiers
|
gymnastic equipment
|
frame with legs used for support or for holding objects
knight in chess — see also knight
|
See also
(Related terms):
| Xiangqi pieces in English (see also: xiangqi) (layout · text) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| general | advisor | elephant | horse | chariot | cannon | soldier |
Etymology 2
From Middle English horsen, from Old English horsian (“to horse, provide with horses”) and ġehorsian (“to horse, set or mount on a horse, supply with horses”), from the noun (see above).
Verb
horse (third-person singular simple present horses, present participle horsing, simple past and past participle horsed)
- (intransitive) Synonym of horse around
- Synonyms: horse about, horse around
- 1958, Gay Gaer Luce, Cross Your Heart, page 181:
- "Stop horsing, and guess how many kids!"
- 2019, Frank Kane, Red Hot Ice: A Johnny Liddell Mystery, page 117:
- "Why don't we stop horsing and get down to cases, Lou?" Mike Davey growled.
- (transitive) To play mischievous pranks on.
- 2015 March 7, Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., Palm Beach: A Novel, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 106:
- Was someone horsing her? Was it Josh's idea of a joke? For some moments she sat, plump hands with long pointed pink nails, toying with the envelope. Then she went to the telephone and called […]
- (transitive) To provide with a horse; supply horses for.
- c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- being better horsed, outrode me
- 1907, Cavalry Journal:
- […] and the same number from Russia for horsing her guns. During peace Turkey has 15,000 regular Cavalry; on mobilisation she should have 21,000, and 4,000 pack animals, without taking the irregular corps into consideration.
- 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 303:
- The result of one night's play was that the man who horsed the party had not one hoof to call his own when the morning's reckoning came to be made.
- (obsolete) To get on horseback.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, Cupid's Arrows:
- He horsed himself well.
- To sit astride of; to bestride.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], line 203:
- Stalls, bulks, windows / Are smothered up, leads filled, and ridges horsed / With variable complexions, all agreeing / In earnestness to see him.
- (of a male horse) To copulate with (a mare).
- To take or carry on the back.
- c. 1667, Samuel Butler, Characters:
- keepers, horsing the deer
- To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.
- 1963, Charles Harold Nichols, Many Thousand Gone:
- So they brought him out and horsed him upon the back of Planter George, and whipped him until he fell quivering in the dust.
- 2020 April 2, Toby Neal, Paradise Crime Mysteries Books 1-9, Neal Enterprises INC:
- Faster than Lei could have believed, Omura blocked the exit, grabbed Kennedy's wrist and twisted it up behind her back, horsing her onto the hard metal chair. She sat the woman on it, slapping on a pair of cuffs.
- (by extension) To flog.
- 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
- [N]otwithstanding the intercession of his governor, who begged earnestly that his punishment might be mitigated, our unfortunate hero was publickly horsed, in terrorem of all whom it might concern.
- (transitive) To pull, haul, or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would.
- 1836, Hugh Murray, John Crawfurd, Peter Gordon, Thomas Lynn, William Wallace, Gilbert Thomas Burnett, An Historical and Descriptive Account of China, page 216:
- [A] country-ship from China to Bombay, standing into the strait at noon with a strong tide and scant wind, stood too near Pedro Branco before tacking, and was totally lost, by the tide horsing her upon the rock whilst in stays.
- 1870, Hunt's Yachting Magazine, page 266:
- Cambria observing this again went about, and tacked towards the island, Sappho followed suit; after a short reach she again tacked and stood for the mark vessel, the tide horsing her well to the westward, but the Cambria stood on […]
- 1981, Robert Roderick, The Greek Position: A Novel, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN:
- At 2:30 P.M. two gray-and-yellow tugs began horsing her out of her berth. Backing, she turned to starboard, past the end of the dock. Engine stopped, she carried sternway as her bow swung for the harbor mouth.
- (informal) To cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume.
- 2012 February 2, Anna Smith, To Tell the Truth: Rosie Gilmour 2, Quercus Publishing, →ISBN:
- The Spaniards spend generations honing the subtle flavours of their delightful tapas and you're horsing it into your mouth as though it was a fried egg roll with brown sauce.'
- 2021 January 7, Paul Olima, Fit: Smash your goals and stay strong for life, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
- Get your laughing gear around some protein at every meal, spreading your intake over the course of the day rather than horsing it into you all in one go, at one mealtime. If you are training hard, try to consume around 25g protein […]
- (transitive, dated) To urge at work tyrannically.
- (intransitive, dated) To charge for work before it is finished.
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 3
Unknown; probably originally criminals' cant based on the initial letter of both words.
Noun
horse (uncountable)
- (slang) Heroin (drug).
- Synonyms: H, smack; see also Thesaurus:heroin
- 1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published 1963 January, page 6:
- It was to remember the juke box, the teasing, the dancing, the hard-on, the gang fights and gang bangs, his first set of drums—bought him by his father—his first taste of marijuana, his first snort of horse.
Translations
Further reading
- horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- wild horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
References
- “horse”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present. (uses the notation ˈhȯrs, or in IPA [ˈhoɚs, ˈhɔɚs])
- David Crystal, The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation (2016)
Anagrams
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