Meanings
- A call that invokes the fairies to transport someone or something.
The Miscellanies of John Aubrey (1626-97) noted two cases involving the phrase "Horse and Hattock" and fairy levitation.
2001, Lizanne Henderson, Edward J. Cowan, Scottish Fairy Belief: A History, →ISBN, page 372 more examples
...but one of their number being, it seems, a little more bold and confident than his companion, said Horse and hattock with my top!' and immediately they all saw the top lifted up from the ground, but could not see which way it was carried, by reason of a cloud of dust which was raised at the same time.
1835, Fraser's magazine for town and country - Volume 11, page 219Archroy had noticed that his old Morris Minor, which his wife described as 'an eyesore', was no longer upon its blocks in the garage but seemed to have cried horse and hattock and been carried away by the fairies.
1992, Robert Rankin, The Antipope, →ISBN, page 18 - An incantation used in witchcraft in order to fly.
I haid a little horse, and wold say, " Horse and Hattock, in the Divellis name !"
1833, Criminal Trials in Scotland: 1609-1624, page 6043 more examples
Isabel Gowdie of Auldearne in 1662[318] announced that she had two forms of words, one was "Horse and Hattock in the Devil's name"; the other was, "Horse and Hattock! Horse and go! Horse and Pellatis! Ho! Ho!"
2004, Margeret Alice Murray, The God of the Witches, →ISBNWe would fly like straws when we please; wild-straws and com-straws will be horses to us, if we put them between our feet and say, 'Horse and Hattock, in the Devil's name!'
2011, Norman Cohn, Europe's Inner Demons, →ISBN, page 158“Give it commands,” Mike concluded, “with the formula 'Horse and Hattock,' and activate it by saying three times: Horse and Hattock, horse and go, Horse and Pellattis, ho, ho!”
2011, Anthony C. Gilbert, Farther Up and Farther In, →ISBN, page 45
Origin
From the Scottish folk tradition that this is the cry that fairies make when they leave a place.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
horse and hattock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horse%20and%20hattock
“horse and hattock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horse%20and%20hattock. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “horse and hattock,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horse%20and%20hattock.
Source: horse and hattock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.