sea horse

plural sea horses · alternative seahorse · alternative sea-horse

1. Any of the small fish of the genus Hippocampus that have a horselike head and swim upright.
2. hobbiesAny of a series of high-value British stamps issued during the reign of King George V, featuring a depiction of Britannia on a chariot in choppy seas.
3. obsoleteA hippopotamus.

   The sea-horse teeth (so called) are the tusks of the hippopotamus.

   1857, Journal of the Society of Arts, volume 5, page 72

   1 more example

   As most authors mention the hippopotamus under the names of the sea-horse, or the sea-cow, he has sometimes been confounded with the latter, which inhabits only the northern seas.

   1830, Georges Louis Le Clerc (Count de Buffon), The Natural History of Quadrupeds (page 331)

4. obsoleteA walrus.

   One morning we had vast quantities of sea-horses about the ship, which neighed exactly like any other horses.

   1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 9, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I

5. human sciencesSynonym of hippocampus.

   Instead, it seems to be a unique case that ends in the tail of a hippocamp or seahorse, although with one fin now missing. Ultimately, the form might have been inspired by bent-leg vases produced in Greece.

   2013, Richard Daniel De Puma, Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, page 107

   1 more example

   In the middle of each of theſe four little Gardens, there is a diſtinct Fountain, and in each of the Fountains there is placed a gilded Triton, ſitting on a gilded Sea-Horſe, or on a Sea-Goat, all upon Rockwork, like that in the middle Fountain[.]

   1699, Walter Harris, A Description of the King's Royal Palace and Gardens at Loo, London: R. Roberts, page 31

   Synonyms: hippocampus