Meanings
nounsalt horse (countable and uncountable, plural salt horses)
plural salt horses
- UKcountablegovernmentA naval officer or rating whose training and experience have qualified him as a seaman rather than in any specialised trade.
Origin
From the fact that horse meat was considered especially unappetizing and rarely eaten, but that the meat had been so heavily salted and dried that it could just be horse meat passed off as beef.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
salt horse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salt%20horse
MLA
“salt horse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salt%20horse. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “salt horse,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salt%20horse.
Source: salt horse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.