kelpie

plural kelpies · alternative kelpy

1. Celtic mythologyA malevolent shapeshifting spirit, most often in the form of a horse, believed to haunt the rivers and lochs of Scotland.

   He was a boy in form, and an antediluvian in feature. Some thought he was a mule, between a Jew and an ape; some a wizard, some a kelpie, or a fairy, but most of all, that he was really and truly a Brownie.

   1828, James Hogg, The Brownie of the Black Haggs

2. An Australian breed of sheepdog.

   Gulls scatter before the blur of my insane kelpie.

   1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador, published 2014, page 4

   1 more example

   There was no sound but the endless noise of forest and river, and the sleep-whimper of his kelpie.

   1979, Thea Astley, Hunting the Wild Pineapple, Nelson, page 28