English
horse
Pronunciation Noun

horse (plural horses)

  1. Any of several animals related to Equus ferus caballus.
    1. A hoofed mammal, of the genus Equus, 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: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619 ↗, 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.
    2. (zoology) Any current or extinct animal of the family Equidae, including the zebra or the ass.
      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. (chess, informal) The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.
      Now just remind me how the horse moves again?
    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.
  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. (slang) The sedative, antidepressant, and anxiolytic drug morphine, chiefly when used illicitly.
    • 1962, Cape Fear, 00:15:20
      Check that shirt. I got a couple of jolts of horse stashed under the collar
  6. (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 pedialite Variations of basketball#H-O-R-S-E).
  7. (dated, slang, among students) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination.
  8. (dated, slang, among students) horseplay; tomfoolery
Synonyms Translations
  • 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, yegua
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To frolic, to act mischievously. (Usually followed by "around".)
    • 1989, Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (script)
      "Genghis Khan! Abe Lincoln! That’s funny until someone gets hurt."
      But Genghis Khan and Lincoln keep horsing around.
    • 1943, Ted W. Lawson and Bob Consodine, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo
      I told him that if I passed out before we got to a hospital I wanted him to see to it that no quack horsed around with my leg.
  2. (transitive) To provide with a horse; supply horses for.
    • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene i]:
      being better horsed, outrode me
  3. (obsolete) To get on horseback.
    • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, "Cupid's Arrows":
      He horsed himself well.
  4. To sit astride of; to bestride.
    • 1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Cymbeline, II. i. 203:
      Stalls, bulks, windows / Are smothered up, leads filled, and ridges horsed / With variable complexions, all agreeing / In earnestness to see him.
  5. (of a male horse) To copulate with (a mare).
  6. To take or carry on the back.
    • the keeper, horsing a deer
  7. To place on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, etc., to be flogged; to subject to such punishment.
  8. (transitive, dated) To urge at work tyrannically.
  9. (intransitive, dated) To charge for work before it is finished.
Noun

horse (uncountable)

  1. (uncountable, slang) Heroin drug.
    Alright, mate, got any horse?
Synonyms Translations
HORSE
Noun

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.
Noun

horse (uncountable)

  1. Alternative spelling of horse (variant of basketball)
Horse
Proper noun
  1. The seventh of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


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