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horse

Syllabification: (horse)
Pronunciation: /hôrs/
Translate horse | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of horse

noun

  • 1a solid-hoofed plant-eating domesticated mammal with a flowing mane and tail, used for riding, racing, and to carry and pull loads.
    • Equus caballus, family Equidae (the horse family), descended from the wild Przewalski’s horse. The horse family also includes the asses and zebras
  • an adult male horse; a stallion or gelding.
  • a wild mammal of the horse family.
  • [treated as singular or plural] cavalry:forty horse and sixty foot
  • 2a frame or structure on which something is mounted or supported, especially a sawhorse.
  • Nautical a horizontal bar, rail, or rope in the rigging of a sailing ship for supporting something.
  • short for pommel horse or vaulting horse.
  • 3 informal heroin.
  • 4 informal a unit of horsepower:the huge 63-horse 701-cc engine
  • 5 Mining an obstruction in a vein.

verb

[with object] (usually be horsed)
  • provide (a person or vehicle) with a horse or horses.

Phrases

don't change horses in midstream

proverb choose a sensible moment to change your mind.

frighten the horses

[usually with negative] do something likely to cause public outrage or offense:David’s views would not have frightened the horses

from the horse's mouth

(of information) from the person directly concerned or another authoritative source.

horses for courses

British proverb different people are suited to different things or situations.

to horse

(as a command) mount your horses!.

you can lead (or take) a horse to water but you can't make him drink

proverb you can give someone an opportunity, but you can’t force them to take it.

Phrasal Verbs

horse around

informal fool around:schoolkids laughing and horsing around

Derivatives

horselike

Pronunciation: /-līk/
adjective

Origin:

Old English hors, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ros and German Ross

horse in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of horse in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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