• (horse-hoarse)
  • (RP) enPR: hô(r)s, IPA: /hɔːs/
  • (America) IPA: /hoɹs/, [ho̞ɹs]
  • (Australia) enPR: hô(r)s, IPA: /hoːs/, [ho̝ːs]
• (non-horse-hoarse)
  • (rhotic) IPA: /hɔːɹs/
  • (non-rhotic) IPA: /hɔːs/

From Middle English horse, hors, from Old English hors, from Proto-West Germanic *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hrussą, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers-.

horse

1. 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.

   1. Any member of the species Equus ferus, including the Przewalski's horse and the extinct Equus ferus ferus.
   2. (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.

   3. (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.

   4. A component of certain games.
      1. (chess, informal) The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.

         Now just remind me how the horse moves again?

      2. (xiangqi) A xiangqi piece that moves and captures one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally.
   5. (slang) A large and sturdy person.

      Every linebacker they have is a real horse.

   6. (historical) A timber frame shaped like a horse, which soldiers were made to ride for punishment.

      Synonyms: Morgan's mule, Spanish donkey

2. Equipment with legs.
   1. 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.

   2. A frame with legs, used to support something.

      a clothes horse; a sawhorse

3. (nautical) Type of equipment.
   1. A rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope.
   2. A breastband for a leadsman.
   3. An iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon.
   4. 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

4. (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.
5. (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).
6. (uncountable) The flesh of a horse as an item of cuisine.
7. (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 […]

8. (dated, slang, among students) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination.
9. (dated, slang, among students) Horseplay; tomfoolery.
10. (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.

• (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
• horseflesh, horsemeat
• (illegitimate study aid) dobbin, pony, trot

• French: (♂♀) cheval, (♂) étalon, (♀) jument, (♂ offspring) poulain, (♀ offspring) pouliche
• German: (♂♀) Pferd, (♂♀) Ross, (old spelling) Roß, (♂♀ regional; inferior) Gaul, (♂) Hengst, Pferdehengst, (♀) Stute, Pferdestute, (♂ offspring) Hengstfohlen, (♂ offspring) Hengstfüllen, (♀ offspring) Stutenfohlen, Stutfohlen, (♀ offspring) Stutenfüllen, Stutfüllen, (♂♀ regional) Rössel, (♂♀ South German) Rössl, (♂♀ South German) Rössle
• Italian: cavallo
• Portuguese: cavalo, égua
• Russian: ло́шадь
• Spanish: caballo

• French: équidé
• German: Pferd, Pferde, Einhufer
• Portuguese: equino
• Spanish: equino, equina

• French: cavalerie
• German: Kavallerie, Reiterei
• Portuguese: cavalaria
• Spanish: caballería

• French: cheval d'arçons
• German: Pferd, Pauschenpferd, Seitpferd
• Italian: cavallina, cavallo
• Portuguese: cavalo
• Russian: конь
• Spanish: potro

• Italian: cavalletto
• Spanish: caballete

• French: cavalier
• German: Springer, Pferd
• Portuguese: cavalo
• Russian: конь
• Spanish: caballo

From Middle English horsen, from Old English horsian and ġehorsian, from the noun (see above).

horse (horses, present participle horsing; simple past and past participle horsed)

1. (intransitive) Synonym of horse around

   Synonyms: horse about, horse around

2. (transitive) To play mischievous pranks on.
3. (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

4. (obsolete) To get on horseback.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, Cupid's Arrows:

     He horsed himself well.

5. 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.

6. (of a male horse) To copulate with (a mare).
7. To take or carry on the back.
   • c. 1667, Samuel Butler, Characters:

     keepers, horsing the deer

8. To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.
   1. (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.

9. (transitive) To pull, haul or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would.
10. (informal) To cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume.
11. (transitive, dated) To urge at work tyrannically.
12. (intransitive, dated) To charge for work before it is finished.

horse (uncountable)

1. (slang) Heroin drug.

   Synonyms: H, smack, Thesaurus:heroin

   • 1962, Cape Fear, 00:15:20:

     Check that shirt. I got a couple of jolts of horse stashed under the collar

• Portuguese: cavalo
• Russian: Ге́ра
• Spanish: caballo, chiva (slang, Mexico)

Initialism of Texas hold 'em, Omaha eight or better, razz, seven-card stud, and seven card stud eight or better.

horse (uncountable)

1. A poker variant consisting of five different poker variants, with the rules changing from one variant to the next after every hand.

horse (uncountable)

1. Alternative spelling of horse

1. The seventh of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.