horse

plural horses · alternative pronunciation spelling regional harse · alternative pronunciation spelling regional hawss · alternative pronunciation spelling regional hoss

1. countableuncountableA hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.

   She loved taming horses on Saturday.

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   A cowboy's greatest friend is his horse.

   A grain, which in England is generally given to horſes, but which in Scotland ſupports the people.

   1755 April 15, Samuel Johnson, “Oats”, in A Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume II (L–Z), London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton; […], →OCLC, column 1

   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.

   1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16

   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.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

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

      Synonyms: caple

   3. countableuncountableA male horse, as opposed to a mare.

      ‘That’s not a mare; that’s a b--- horse!’

      1933, Frank Clune, Try Anything Once, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 16

   4. sometimesuncountablegovernmentCavalry 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.

   5. countableinformaluncountableboard gamesThe chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.

      Now just remind me how the horse moves again?

      Synonyms: knight

   6. countableuncountableboard gamesA xiangqi piece that moves and captures one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally.
   7. countableslanguncountableA large and sturdy person.

      Every linebacker they have is a real horse.

   8. countablehistoricaluncountableA 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. countableuncountableIn 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. countableuncountableA frame with legs, used to support something.

      a clothes horse; a sawhorse

3. A type of equipment.
   1. countableuncountablenauticalA rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope.

      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

      1887, William Clark Russell, A Book for the Hammock

   2. countableuncountablenauticalA breastband for a leadsman.
   3. countableuncountablenauticalAn iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon.
   4. countableuncountablenauticalA jackstay.

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      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

4. countableuncountablebusinessA 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. UScountableuncountableAn 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. uncountableThe flesh of a horse as an item of cuisine.

   She said: "I'm starved. I could eat a horse." I told her she was lying, because I had once eaten horse.

   1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 46

7. countableslanguncountableA prison guard who smuggles contraband in or out for prisoners.

   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 […]

   1980, Lee Harrington Bowker, Prison Victimization, page 117

8. countabledatedslanguncountableamong studentsA translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination.

   Synonyms: dobbin, pony, trot

9. countabledatedslanguncountableamong studentsHorseplay; tomfoolery.
10. countableslanguncountablecard gamesA player who has been staked, i.e. another player has paid for their buy-in and claims a percentage of any winnings.

present singular third person horses · participle present horsing · participle past horsed · past horsed

1. intransitiveSynonym of horse around.

   "Stop horsing, and guess how many kids!"

   1958, Gay Gaer Luce, Cross Your Heart, page 181

   1 more example

   "Why don't we stop horsing and get down to cases, Lou?" Mike Davey growled.

   2019, Frank Kane, Red Hot Ice: A Johnny Liddell Mystery, page 117

   Synonyms: horse about, horse around, horse around

2. transitiveTo play mischievous pranks on.

   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[…]

   2015 March 7, Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., Palm Beach: A Novel, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 106

3. transitiveTo provide with a horse; supply horses for.

   being better horsed, outrode me

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

   2 more examples

   […] 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.

   1907, Cavalry Journal

   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.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 303

4. obsoleteTo get on horseback.

   He horsed himself well.

   1888, Rudyard Kipling, Cupid's Arrows

5. To sit astride of; to bestride.

   Stalls, bulks, windows / Are smothered up, leads filled, and ridges horsed / With variable complexions, all agreeing / In earnestness to see him.

   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

6. To copulate with (a mare).
7. To take or carry on the back.

   keepers, horsing the deer

   c. 1667, Samuel Butler, Characters

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

   So they brought him out and horsed him upon the back of Planter George, and whipped him until he fell quivering in the dust.

   1963, Charles Harold Nichols, Many Thousand Gone

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   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.

   2020 April 2, Toby Neal, Paradise Crime Mysteries Books 1-9, Neal Enterprises INC

   1. broadlyTo flog.

      [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.

      1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

9. transitiveTo pull, haul, or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would.

   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.

   1981, Robert Roderick, The Greek Position: A Novel, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   [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.

   1836, Hugh Murray, John Crawfurd, Peter Gordon, Thomas Lynn, William Wallace, Gilbert Thomas Burnett, An Historical and Descriptive Account of China, page 216

   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[…]

   1870, Hunt's Yachting Magazine, page 266

10. informalTo cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume.

    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.'

    2012 February 2, Anna Smith, To Tell the Truth: Rosie Gilmour 2, Quercus Publishing, →ISBN

    1 more example

    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[…]

    2021 January 7, Paul Olima, Fit: Smash your goals and stay strong for life, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN

11. datedtransitiveTo urge at work tyrannically.
12. datedintransitiveTo charge for work before it is finished.
13. datedslangTo cheat at schoolwork by means of a translation or other illegitimate aid.

1. slanguncountableHeroin (drug).

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

   1962, Cape Fear, 00:15:20

   2 more examples

   Riccio nodded toward a boy across the floor and said, “See that kid? He’s on dope.” The boy was standing against a wall, staring vacantly at the dancers, his face fixed in a gentle, faraway smile. Every few seconds, he would wipe his nose with the back of his hand. “Man, that Jo-Jo!” Benny said. “He’s stoned all the time.” “What’s he on—horse? Riccio asked, meaning heroin. “Who knows with that creep?” Benny said. I asked Benny if any special kind of boy went in for dope. “The creeps,” he said. “You know, the goofballs.” He searched for a word. “The weak kids. Like Jo-Jo. There ain’t nothing the guys can’t do to him. Last week, we took his pants off and made him run right in the middle of the street without them.”

   1957 September 13, Walter Bernstein, “The Cherubs Are Rumbling”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2024

   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.

   1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published January 1963, page 6

   Synonyms: H, smack, Big H, boy, brown sugar, brown, bujj, diacetylmorphine

alternative horse · alternative H.O.R.S.E.

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

alternative horse · alternative H.O.R.S.E.

1. alternativeuncountableball gamesAlternative form of horse (“a variant of basketball”).

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