English Online Dictionary. What means horse? What does horse mean?
English
Alternative forms
- hoss, hawss (regional, pronunciation spelling)
Pronunciation
- (horse–hoarse merger)
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hô(r)s, IPA(key): /hɔːs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /hoɹs/, [ho̞ɹs]
- (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)
- (rhotic) IPA(key): /hɔːɹs/
- (non-rhotic) IPA(key): /hɔːs/
- (Early Modern) /hɒrs/, /hɒːrs/
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 and carrus. 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.
- 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.
- (military, sometimes uncountable) Cavalry soldiers (sometimes capitalized when referring to an official category).
- A component of certain games.
- (chess, informal) The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.
- (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.
- (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.
- A frame with legs, used to support something.
- 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) A 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.
- 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous
- But in all the wild tumult he noticed, and never forgot, the wicked, set little eye—something like a circus elephant's eye—of a whale that drove along almost level with the water, and, so he said, winked at him. Three boats found their rodings fouled by these reckless mid-sea hunters, and were towed half a mile ere their horses shook the line free.
- 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous
- A rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope.
- (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.
- (prison slang) A prison guard who smuggles contraband in or out for 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 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
Derived terms
Descendants
- Sranan Tongo: asi
- → Maori: hōiho
- → Quiripi: hosses (from the plural horses)
Translations
See also
- Horse-related English words
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
- (transitive) To play mischievous pranks on.
- (transitive) To provide with a horse; supply horses for.
- (obsolete) To get on horseback.
- To sit astride of; to bestride.
- (of a male horse) To copulate with (a mare).
- To take or carry on the back.
- To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.
- (by extension) To flog.
- (transitive) To pull, haul, or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would.
- (informal) To cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume.
- (transitive, dated) To urge at work tyrannically.
- (intransitive, dated) To charge for work before it is finished.
- (dated, slang) To cheat at schoolwork by means of a translation or other illegitimate aid.
Derived terms
- horse about
- horse around
- unhorse
Translations
Etymology 3
Unknown; probably originally criminals' cant based on the initial letter of heroin and horse.
Noun
horse (uncountable)
- (slang) Heroin (drug).
- Synonyms: H, smack; see also Thesaurus:heroin
Descendants
- → Swedish: horse
Translations
Further reading
- horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- wild horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
References
Anagrams
- hoers, rohes, shoer, shero, shore, heros, hoser, Shore, RSeOH, Rohes
Middle English
Etymology 1
Noun
horse
- Alternative form of hors
Etymology 2
Adjective
horse
- Alternative form of hos
Etymology 3
Verb
horse
- Alternative form of horsen (“to provide with a horse”)
Norwegian Nynorsk
Noun
horse f (definite singular horsa, indefinite plural horser, definite plural horsene)
- a mare
- (derogatory) frivolous woman
Verb
horse (present tense horsar, past tense horsa, past participle horsa, passive infinitive horsast, present participle horsande, imperative horse/hors)
- (intransitive, of a stallion) to run around amongst the mares
- (intransitive, of a man) to run around, chiefly drunkenly
Old English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈxor.se/, [ˈhorˠ.ze]
Noun
horse
- dative singular of hors
Scots
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English hors, horse, from Old English hors, from Proto-West Germanic *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hrussą.
Noun
horse (plural horse)
- horse
Swedish
Etymology
From English horse (“heroin”). Doublet of kärra and russ; related to karriär.
Noun
horse
- (slang) horse (heroin)
- Synonyms: häst, (brown heroin) jonk
References
- Swedish Police Authority list of drug slang
- Slangopedia