| 释义 |
▪ I. horse, n.|hɔːs|
Forms: sing. 1–6 hors, (3 Orm. horrs, 4 horce, ors, 5 orse, 6 horsse), 4– horse; pl. 1–6 hors, 4– horse, 3– horses.
[Com. Teut.: OE. hors = OFris. hors, hars, hers (Fris. hoars), OS. hros (MLG. ros, ors, MDu. ors, LG. and Du. ros), OHG. hros, ros, MHG. ros, ors, G. rosz, all neuter, ON. hross masc.; not recorded in Goth. The affinities of the word outside Teutonic are uncertain: the conjecture that OTeut. *horso-, pre-Teut. *kurso- was from the root *kurs- of L. currere ‘to run’ is favoured by many; but other derivations have also been suggested. Like several other names of animals (sheep, swine, neat, deer), this was originally neuter, applicable to the male and female alike; and like these words and other neuters in a long syllable, the nom. plural was the same as the singular. The plural horses, and the tendency to restrict the name to the male came in later: see 1 b, c.]
I. The animal, and senses immediately related.
1. a. A solid-hoofed perissodactyl quadruped (Equus caballus), having a flowing mane and tail, whose voice is a neigh. It is well known in the domestic state as a beast of burden and draught, and esp. as used for riding upon.
c825Vesp. Psalter xxxi[i]. 9 Nyllað bion swe swe hors & mul in ðæm nis ondᵹet. c1205Lay. 21354 Þe king..his hors he gon spurie. c1290Beket 1151 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 139 Hors ne hadde he non. c1300Havelok 126 Mi douhter..Yif scho couþe on horse ride. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 231 A horce..þat haves a sore back, wynses when he is oght touched. c1400Mandeville (1839) xxii. 237 [Thei] presenten the white Hors to the Emperour. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 9 Nor wis His hors, his oxe, his maide nor page. 1584D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 288 Falling off his horsse. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iv. 7 A Horse, a Horse, my Kingdome for a Horse! 1654Whitlock Zootomia 143, I believe Banks his Horse was taught in better language, then some would have Christians taught. 1782Cowper Gilpin 45 John Gilpin at his horse's side Seized fast the flowing mane. 1848W. H. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. v. (1879) 116 Not a horse appears on the monuments prior to Thothmes III, who clearly in his conquests brought them from Asia.
b. pl.
The plural was in OE. the same as the sing.; horse plural was in general use down to 17th c., and is still frequent dialectally; but horses appears as early as Layamon (c 1205), and its use increased till in 17th c. it became the usual plural in the literary language; sometimes horse appears as the collective and horses as the individual plural, which explains the retention of horse in military language as in ‘a troop of horse’. The OE. dat. pl. horsum appears in early ME. as horsen, horse.
αa900in O.E. Texts 177 Fiow(er) wildo hors. Ibid. 178 Ða cwom Godes engel..and ᵹestillde ðæm horssum. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 179 Hundes and hauekes, and hors and wepnes. c1205Lay. 1025 He sculde beon..mid horsen [c 1275 horse] to-drawen. 1375Barbour Bruce viii. 446 Syne thame lay Apon their horss. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 121 Two gentil hors. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.) 219 We seen that knyghtis knowyth the goodnys of horsyn. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. clxxxix. 167 Oftymes the poure peple..ete also the houndes..and eke hors and cattes. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lxii. 215 Gerames..bought horse and mules to ryde on. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. ii. ii. 18 Come on then, horse and Chariots let vs haue. 1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3783/3 We brought away..above 500 Horse belonging to their Cavalry and Artillery. 1818Byron Mazeppa xvii, A thousand horse—and none to ride! 1832Lander Adv. Niger I. iv. 177 A few rough, ragged-looking ponies are the only ‘horse’ of which he has the superintendence.
βc1205Lay. 3561 Hundes & hauekes & durewurðe horses [c 1275 hors]. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 50 Here folc heo loren..& heore horses [MS. A hors] ney echon. 1382Wyclif Rev. xix. 14 The hoostes..sueden him in whijte horsis [v.r. hors]. 1434Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 262/2 Three of her best horses. c15111st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 33/2 They haue horseys as great as a great dogge. 1584D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 41 They were driuen to eat their own horsses. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 178 Bold Ericthonius was the first, who join'd Four Horses for the rapid Race design'd. 1735Somerville Chase iii. 322 Intrepid Bands, Safe in their Horses Speed. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 156 The ride and spare horses will be on the left when picketed, the gun horses on the right.
c. spec. The adult male of the horse kind, as distinguished from a mare or colt: a stallion or gelding. to take the horse: (of the mare) to conceive.
c1485Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 119 He was nother horse ne mare, nor yet yokyd sow. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 39 Baytht horse & meyris did fast nee, & the folis nechyr. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 117 What age doe you thinke best for the Mare to go to the horse? Ibid. 117 b, To put the Mare to the Horse. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. vii. 7. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 56 They have goodly Mares to draw these Waggons, using Horses for the troops in their Army. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 223. 1854 Owen Skel. & Teeth in Circ. Sc., Organ. Nat. I. 285 Upon the rising of the third permanent incisor, or ‘corner nipper’..the ‘colt’ becomes a ‘horse’, and the ‘filly’, a ‘mare’. 1870D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §1013 Having taken the horse, i.e. being fecundated, is therefore a matter of uncertainty usually for three or four months, particularly in pastured mares.
d. In Zool. sometimes extended to all species of the genus Equus, or even of the family Equidæ.
e. With qualifications denoting origin, variety, or use, as Arabian, Barbary, Flemish, wild horse. Cf. also cart-, dray-, saddle-, war-horse, etc.
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 119/33 Equifer, wilde cynnes hors. a1400–50Alexander 1250 Þe multitude was sa mekill..Of wees & of wild horsis [v.r. horse]. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 13, I have an other stable..for my Horses of service, and Hackneyes. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 252 Single horses, which therefore they called Coursers, and now a days a Horse for Saddle. 1889Spectator 21 Sept., As good, if not better, than the shire or cart-horse. 1890Besant Demoniac xv. 179 To have his flesh wrenched off with red-hot pincers and to be torn to pieces by wild horses.
f. Colloq. abbreviation of horse-power.
1904[see tonneau]. 1931Star 8 May 13/1 Each of them with a few ‘horses’ in reserve. 1932Kipling Limits & Renewals 341 Sign—refill, and let me away with my horses (Seventy Thundering Horses!). 1973R. C. Dennis Sweat of Fear vi. 41 The Mercedes..pointed north at high speed, but there was never any chance of its outdistancing me. I had too many horses under my foot.
2. a. A representation, figure, or model of a horse. Cf. also hobby-horse n., rocking-horse.
c1400Destr. Troy 11848 The grekes..Prayd to Priam..ffor to hale in a horse hastely of bras, Palades to ples with. a1547Surrey æneid ii. 44 Astonnied some the scathefull gift beheld..All wondring at the hugenesse of the horse. c1600Timon i. iv, Dost thou knowe where Are any wodden horses to be sould, That neede noe spurre nor haye? 1639Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events To Rdr. A iv b, The horse of Troy, out of which came armed souldiers. 1738F. Wise Lett. Antiq. Books 26 No one can be ignorant, that the Horse was the Standard which the Saxons used, both before and after their coming hitherto. 1760Tollett in Shaks. Plays (1813) XI. 439 Our Hobby is a spirited horse of pasteboard. Mod. Advt., Pole Horses, well made, 2s. 6d.
b. = The constellation of Pegasus: cf. flying-horse (sense 20). Also the equine part of Sagittarius (represented as a centaur).
[1565–73: see 7 c.] 1697Creech Manilius v. 69 When this Centaur hath advanc'd his Fire Thrice Ten Degrees, and shews his Horse entire; The Swan displays his Wings. Ibid. 80 With Pisces twenty first Degree to fly The Horse begins, and beats the yielding Sky.
3. Mil. A horse and his rider; hence a cavalry soldier.
†a. In sing., with pl. horses. Obs. rare.
1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV 231 The Duke..came in no small hast.. onely accompaignied with sixtene horses. Ibid., Hen. VIII 32 The kyng contynually sent foorth his light horses to seke the country.
b. Collective pl. horse: Horse soldiers, cavalry. light horse: see quot. 1853, and light-horse.
1548Hall Chron., Hen. IV 13 King Henry..with a fewe horse in the night, came to the Tower of London. 1549Compl. Scot. xi. 89 He furnest..tua hundretht lycht horse. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 186 Fifteene hundred Foot, fiue hundred Horse Are march'd vp. 1698Lond. Gaz. No. 3445/1 First marched an Alai Beg with about 50 Horse. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) I. 157 The body..consisted only of two hundred foot, twenty horse, and twenty..Indians. 1853Stocqueler Milit. Encycl., Light horse, all mounted soldiers that are lightly armed and accoutred, for active and desultory service. Thus light dragoons, fencible cavalry, mounted yeomanry, etc. are, strictly speaking, light horse.
c. horse and foot: both divisions of an army; hence, whole forces; † adv. with all one's might.
c1600I. T. Grim iv. in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 448, I made a dangerous thrust at him, and violently overthrew him horse and foot. 1607Middleton Phœnix iv. i. 66, I hope I shall overthrow him horse and foot. 1740H. Walpole Lett. (1820) I. 87 (D.) She played at pharaoh two or three times at Princess Craon's, where she cheats horse and foot. 1930W. Faulkner Rose for Emily in Coll. Stories (1951) ii. 121 So she vanquished them [sc. the city authorities] horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before.
4. fig. Applied contemptuously or playfully to a man, with reference to various qualities of the quadruped.
1500–20Dunbar Poems lxi. 68 Tak in this gray horss, Auld Dunbar. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 215 If I tell thee a Lye, spit in my face, call me Horse. 1606― Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 126 The vnknowne Aiax; Heauens what a man is there? a very Horse, That has he knowes not what. 1648Brit. Bellman 20 Your Maior (a very Horse, and a Traitour to our City). 1806Sir R. Wilson Jrnl. 17 Jan. in Life (1862) I. v. 302 His wife somewhat pretty and amiable..his eldest daughter good-looking, but his youngest a third horse. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast (1854) xxii. 125 Though ‘a bit of a horse’..yet he was generally liked by the crew. 1844Southern Lit. Messenger X. 489/2 ‘Huzzah!..went round the crowd, while Jeptha's..friends swore he was ‘a horse’. 1847Robb Squatter Life 70 (Bartlett) None of your stuck-up imported chaps from the dandy states, but a real genuine westerner—in short, a hoss! 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Horse..is a term of derision where an officer assumes the grandioso, demanding honour where honour is not his due. Also, a strict disciplinarian, in nautical parlance. 1925J. Metcalfe Smoking Leg 26 There you are, old horse; don't say I never did you a good turn. 1930D. L. Sayers Strong Poison iv. 48 It's your triumph at having secured a disagreement that gives you away, old horse. 1973‘A. Hall’ Tango Briefing i. 10 ‘It is a joke, isn't it?’ ‘As far as I know, old horse.’
5. Applied to other animals.
a. = blue-fish.
b. See sea-horse.
c. horned horse, an appellation of the gnu, a species of antelope.
1672J. Josselyn New Eng. Rarities 96 Blew Fish, or Horse, I did never see any of them in England; they are as big usually as the Salmon, and better Meat by far.
II. Things resembling the quadruped in shape, use, or some characteristic real or fancied.
6. A contrivance on which a man rides, sits astride, or is carried, as on horseback.
a. gen. and fig. esp. with qualification, as iron horse or steam horse, the locomotive engine; † a bier. spec. b. An ancient instrument of torture; a wooden frame on which soldiers were made to ride as a punishment; also called timber mare. c. A vaulting block in a gymnasium. d. A wooden block on which, sitting astride, a man is lowered down a shaft. e. A low wooden stool or board on which a workman sits in various occupations.
a.1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 10 To think often on the wodden horse or foure foted bere, so sodaynly comminge from other mens doores to theires..to carie them a waye for ever. 1606Choice, Chance etc. (1881) 9, I saw how woodden horses went with the wind, which carried men and Merchandize, ouer the water. 1659D. Pell Impr. Sea 20 He got his foot into the stirrup of a Wooden Horse, and rid as proudly over the waves..as any Commander. 1754Richardson Grandison (1812) IV. 299 (D.) A kind of horse, as it is called with you, with two poles like those of chairmen, was the vehicle; on which is secured a sort of elbow-chair in which the traveller sits. 1874Longfellow Monte Cassino xxi, I saw the iron horses of the steam Toss to the morning air their plumes of smoke. 1898Daily Chron. 26 May 7/7 It [a locomotive] was a powerful and quick-moving horse, only the run to London was not done under any sort of pressure. 1937Times 13 Apr. (Brit. Motor Suppl.) p. vi/3 Good progress..is most noticeable with the mechanical horse ..and the trolley omnibus. 1963Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 44 Horse.., a tractor or power unit.
b.1648W. Jenkyn Blind Guide iii. 33 A wooden horse for unruly Souldiers is no living creature. 1705Farquhar Recruiting Officer v. iv. 1788Grose Milit. Antiq. II. 200 The remains of a wooden horse was standing on the parade at Portsmouth, about the year 1760. 1895J. J. Raven Hist. Suffolk 37 If they were suspected of falsifying their accounts, they might be tortured by a kind of rack called the horse.
c.1785J. Wesley Let. 17 July (1931) VIII. 281 Constant exercise. If you can have no other, you should daily ride a wooden horse, which is only a double plank nine or ten feet long, properly placed upon two tressels. 1875–98[see vaulting vbl. n.2 2 b]. 1949E. Williams Wooden Horse ii. 37 A vaulting horse, a box horse like we had at school. You know, one of those square things with a padded top and sides that go right down to the ground. 1962T.V. Times 9 Mar. 22/3 Trampoline, pommelled horse and vaulting box. 1973J. Burrows Like an Evening Gone iii. 40 Sporting equipment of a modest kind..a vaulting horse and a set of P.E. mats.
d.1747Hooson Miner's Dict. K ij b, Horse, a strong thick piece of Wood, with a Hole bored in the middle of it, and..the Rope being put through the Hole..the Miner places between his Legs and sits on it and so rides down and up the Shafts. 1894Times 10 Jan. 11/3 He was seated on the ‘horse’..and the engineman heard him give the signal to ‘lower’.
e.1865J. T. F. Turner Slate Quarries 14 These sheets of slate are then passed to the ‘dressers’, or cutters..seated on a wooden ‘horse’..The ‘horse’ is a low wooden stool, on one end of which the cutter sits astride. 1921[see broom n. 6].
7. A frame or structure on which something is mounted or supported. (Often having legs.)
a. A horizontal board or beam resting upon two or four vertical legs, and used as a support. b. A sawyer's frame or trestle, a saw-horse. c. A clothes-horse, on which washed linen, etc. is dried; a frame on which towels are hung. d. A frame, board, block, or plank, used in various trades, to support the material or article which is being operated on. (See quots.)
a.1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 3, Horses, or Trussels..to lay the Poles..on whilst they are boring. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Horse..is also used in carpentry for a piece of wood jointed across two other perpendicular ones, to sustain the boards, planks, etc. which make bridges over small rivers. 1874J. H. Collins Metal Mining 82 The horses are placed one on each side of the shaft, about 5 or 6 feet apart, the centre of the space between being in line with the span-beam of the whim. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Horse,..6. That on which the mooring of a flying-bridge rides and traverses, and which consists of two masts with horizontal beams at their heads.
b.1718Law French Dict. (ed. 2) s.v., A horse to saw wood on, cantherius. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Baudet, a sawyer's frame, horse, or trestle. 1846D. Corcoran Pickings 83 One carried his saw slung on his arm, and the other had his ‘horse’ mounted on his shoulder. 1850N. Kingsley Diary (1914) 103 Worked at hewing some sticks for horses to use the Pit Saw.
c. [1565–73Cooper Thesaurus, Pegasus, A winged horse. A signe of starres so named. An instrument in an house whereon garments and other things be hanged.] 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Horse,..also a wooden Frame to dry wash'd Linnen upon. 1826H. N. Coleridge West Indies 171 Converted into drying horses for their clothes. 1852Mrs. Smythies Bride Elect xxiii, She..wrung out the wretched rags, and hung them on an old horse to dry.
d.1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., The horse used by tanners and skinners..upon which they pare their skins. 1750T. R. Blanckley Naval Expos., Horse..is also a Frame of Wood the Riggers make use of to woold Ships Masts, which hath a Rowl fixed in it, whereon several Turns are taken for the heaving the Robe taught round the Mast. 1791Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing II. ii. ii. v. 107 Passing the piece successively from the winch to the horse or board. 1823Crabb Technol. Dict., Horse, the form, or bench, on which the pressmen set the heaps of paper; also the pressmen themselves were jocosely so called because they worked the horse. 1839T. Beale Sperm Whale 187 Strips of fat or blubber..being cut up into thin pieces upon blocks called ‘horses’. 1850W. B. Clarke Wreck Favorite 31 The ‘horse’, used for supporting the blubber whilst it is being cut into the tubs, consists of a piece of board, about one foot wide by one foot and a half long, having a ledge..on each side. 1853C. Morfit Tanning etc. 156 The working and softening of the hides upon the horse, or beam. Ibid. 447 (in parchment manufacture) A horse, or stout wooden frame..formed of two uprights and two crossbars, solidly joined together by tenons and mortises. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., A shaving-horse is a beam supported by legs, and having a jaw..to hold a shingle, axe-handle, spoke, or other article while being shaved by a drawing knife. Ibid., Horse,..4. A slanting board at the end of the bank or table, to hold a supply of paper for a press. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 122 [A] Horse [is] a wooden standard for supporting a small clock movement while it is being brought to time.
8. An instrument, appliance, or device, for some service suggesting or taken to suggest that of a horse.
† a. A wedge passed through the pin which holds pieces together to tighten their contact. Obs. b. A clamp for holding screws for filing. c. A hook-shaped tool used in making embossed or hammered work. d. A cooper's tool used in driving the staves of a cask closely together. † e. A kind of battering-ram. Obs. f. In a malt-kiln: see quot. 1848. g. A wooden faucet (Jam.). h. A groyne. local.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §14 Thorw wich pyn ther goth a litel wegge which þat is cleped the hors, þat streyneth alle this parties to hepe. 1601Holland Pliny I. 189 The engine to batter wals (called sometime the horse, and now is named the ram). 1610W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. xiii. 45 Engines are..Militarie; as Battering-Rams, Sowes, Horses, Tortuses. 1611Cotgr., Sergeant de tonnelier, the Coopers horse; an yron toole which he vseth in the hooping of Caske. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 153 In the midst of this Room on the Floor, must the Fire-place be made..it is usually called a Horse, and is commonly made in Mault-Kilns. 1848Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IX. ii. 570 It is a very good precaution..to have horses or hogs (as these plates, resting upon open brickwork, are called) over the fires, when there are three to the same space. 1852J. Wiggins Embanking x. 232 Expensive works..such as those called ‘horses’ in Essex, and ‘groins’ in Sussex and Hants.
i. In other uses (see quots.).
1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 290/2 Horse, (Plast.) the wood backing of a zinc mould, used by plasterers for running mouldings. (Plumb.) A wooden finial, etc., forming a core which is to be covered with lead. 1946N. Wymer Eng. Country Crafts vi. 62 When the sticks are well ‘cooked’ the craftsman takes them, one by one, from the sand and pulls them through a ‘horse’..a wooden plank with niches cut out of the side—to straighten them. 1957R. Lister Decorative Wrought Ironwork 229 Horse, a kind of stake..with perforations for holding other tools. 1964W. L. Goodman Hist. Wood-working Tools 153 Holding his work in a vertical pedal-operated vice or ‘horse’.
9. Nautical.
a. A rope stretched under a yard, on which sailors stand in handing sails; a foot-rope. b. A rope for a sail to travel on, also called traverse-horse. c. A jack-stay on which a sail is hauled out. d. Applied to various other ropes used to support or to guide. e. A horizontal bar of iron or wood used as a traveller for the sheet-block of a fore-and-aft sail. f. Applied to various other bars used as protections, etc. (See quots. and Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867).
1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 14 The fore top sayle hallyard..the horse, the maine sheats. 1627― Seaman's Gram. v. 21 A Horse is a rope made fast to the fore mast shrouds, and the Spretsaile sheats, to keepe those sheats cleare of the anchor flookes. 1692Ibid. i. xiv. 64 The Horse for the main Topsail yard. Ibid. The Main Horse and Tackle. Ibid. 65 The Horse on the Bowsprit. 1706Phillips, Horse,..also a Rope made fast to the Shrowds, to preserve him that heaves out the Lead there from falling into the Sea. Ibid. s.v. Wapp, Those little short Wapps which are seized to the Top-mast and Top-gallant-mast Stay, wherein the Bowlings of the Top-sail and Top-gallant-sail are let thro', are also call'd Horses. 1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 114 Horses for the Yards; a Conveniency for the Men to tread on, in going out to furl the Sails. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Horse..is also a rope in a ship, made fast to one of the foremast shrouds; having a dead man's eye at its end, through which the pennant of the sprit-sail sheets is reeved. 1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 6 Horse, a thick iron rod, fastened at the ends to the inside of the stern of vessels that carry a fore and aft mainsail, for the main sheet to travel on. Ibid. 167 Bowsprit-horses..serve as rails for the men to hold by, when..out upon the bowsprit. Flemish-horses are small horses under the yards without the cleats. Jib-horses hang under the jib-boom. Traverse-horses are of rope, or iron, for sails to travel on, &c. 1815W. Burney Dict. Marine s.v., Flemish Horse..placed at the top-sail-yard-arms, on which the man who passes the earing usually stands. Ibid., Iron Horse, in ship building, the name given to a large round bar of iron, fixed in the heads of ships, with stanchions and netting. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 125 Horse, the round bar of iron which is fixed to the main rail and back of the figure in the head, with stanchions, and to which is attached a netting for the safety of the men who have occasion to be in the head. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. i. (1858) 15, I was stationed a-head on the out-look beside the foresail horse. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 17 What is the name of the standing rigging for jib and flying jibbooms? Foot ropes or horses, inner and outer jib guys,..flying jib foot ropes or horses. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., Horses are also called jackstays, on which sails are hauled out, as gaff-sails.
†10.
a. A lottery ticket hired out by the day.
b. A day-rule. legal slang.
1726Brice's Weekly Jrnl. 14 Oct. 2 Tis computed that 6000 Tickets, called Horses, are hired every Day in Exchange-Alley. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Horse..To determine the value of a horse.—Multiply the amount of the prizes in the lottery by the time the horse is hired for [etc.]. 1731Fielding Lottery i, Does not your worship let horses, Sir! I have a little money..and I intend to ride it out in the lottery. 1825C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 317 King's Bench rulers with needy habiliments, and lingering looks sighing for term time and a horse. [Note] A day-rule, so called.
11. a. A mass of rock or earthy matter enclosed within a lode or vein (usually part of the rock through which the lode runs); a fault or obstruction in the course of a vein; hence to take horse.
1778W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis 323 Horse, a portion of dead ground in a Lode, which widens like a horse's back from the spine. 1789Mills in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 74 Examining the cliffs at Ballycastle, I found the horses (or faults) of which there are several between the coals, where veins of lava..standing vertically. 1828Craven Dial., Horse, an obstruction of a vein or stratum, called also a rider. 1855Cornwall 88 When a lode divides into branches, the miners say it has taken horse. 1872Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 302 One vein, which is divided into two parts by an intervening ‘horse’ of ground. 1874J. H. Collins Metal Mining 27.
b. A mud or sand bank. dial.
1926H. A. Tripp Suffolk Sea Borders vi. 109 Below Waldringfield is a ‘horse’ in mid-channel—‘horse’ being the name given to banks that crop up with rounded backs like the back of a horse. 1929E. A. Robertson Three came Unarmed ix. 149 Now the shoal-water of this coast is..full of under-water mud-banks or ‘horses’ which come dry or are barely covered at low tide.
12. (See quot.)
1871Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers I. 112 Metallic iron, not finding heat enough in a lead-furnace to keep it sufficiently fluid to run out with the slag, congeals in the hearth, and forms what smelters term ‘sows’, ‘bears’, ‘horses’ or ‘salamanders’.
13. A translation or other illegitimate aid for students in preparing their work; a ‘crib’. U.S.
14. slang. Among workmen, work charged for before it is executed. See dead horse (sense 19). Also live horse: work done and not charged for.
1770P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 499 If any journeyman set down in his bill on Saturday night more work than he has done, that surplus is called Horse. 1823Crabb Technol. Dict., Horse, is the surplusage of work which a journeyman printer sets down in his bill on Saturday night above what he has done, which he abates in his next bill. This was formerly called Horse-flesh. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. 247 Live horse, in printers' parlance, work done over and above that included in the week's bill.
15. Heroin. slang (orig. U.S.).
1950Time 28 Aug. 2/2 There are the usual thrill⁓seekers who take goof balls..quite often ending up as confirmed addicts of..heroin (H, horse, white stuff). 1951N.Y. Times 13 June 24/3 Then one day we met another fellow and he offered us some heroin. I sniffed this too. We called it ‘horse’ and ‘H’. 1961John o' London's 16 Nov. 548 ‘Pot’ is marijuana, and ‘horse’ heroin. 1962J. Baldwin Another Country (1963) i. i. 14 His first taste of marijuana, his first snort of horse. 1963L. Deighton Horse under Water xl. 158 Diacetyl-morphine. Which is what you would call ‘heroin’, or ‘H’, or ‘horse’. 1969Daily Tel. 31 Jan. 24/6 He had seen the effects of an overdose of ‘horse’ before. The skin becomes greenish and there was frothing at the mouth.
III. Phrases.
* With governing prep.
16. on horse. On horseback.
on horse of ten toes (humorous), on foot; so on foot's horse (foot n. 29, quot. 1883).
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3217 On horse fifiti ðhusent men. a1300Cursor M. 6267 He folud wit ost on hors and fote. a1661Fuller Worthies, Somerset (1662) 31 Mounted on an horse with ten toes.
17. to horse.
a. To horseback, to mounting a horse; used absolutely as an order to mount.
c1350Will. Palerne 1947 Whan þe gomes of grece were alle to horse, araied wel redi. a1400–50Alexander 777 Ilk a hathill to hors [Dubl. to hys hors] hiȝis him be-lyue. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 299 To horse, to horse, vrge doubts to them yt fear. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 106 As soone as the mules are grast, they must to horse againe, every man. 1847Tennyson Princ. iv. 148 ‘To horse!’ Said Ida; ‘home! to horse!’ 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. viii. II. 288 His trumpets had been heard sounding to horse through those quiet cloisters.
b. Of a mare: To the stallion. See 1 c, quot. 1577.
** With governing verb.
18. to change horses, to substitute a fresh horse for that which has been ridden or driven up to this point; to change (swap) horses in midstream (while crossing a stream): to change one's ideas, plans, etc., in the middle of a project, progress, etc.; to hitch, set, or stable horses together, to agree, combine, get on with each other; to play horse with (U.S.): to treat roughly or unceremoniously; to take horse, to mount, start, or proceed, on horseback: see also 1 c and 11; to talk horse, to talk the language of ‘the turf’; to talk big or boastfully; to hold one's horses: see hold v. 11 c.
1617Moryson Itin. iii. 12 Being ready to take Horse. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 29 They rode all night, having twise changed horse. 1651Ep. Ded. to Donne's Lett., The Cavaliers and They (that were at such enmity here) set their horses together there. a1704T. Brown Wks. (1760) III. 198 (D.) Faith and reason, which..can never be brought to set their horses together. c1800R. Cumberland John de Lancaster (1809) I. 258 They'll never set their horses up together. 1821Scott Kenilw. vii, The earl and his retinue took horse soon after. 1837–1862 [see hitch v. 5 d]. 1855T. C. Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. II. 337 Doctor, I am a borin of you, but the fact is, when I get a goin ‘talkin hoss’, I never know where to stop. 1864A. Lincoln in Compl. Wks. (1894) II. 531, I do not allow myself to suppose that either the Convention or the League have concluded to decide that I am either the greatest or best man in America, but rather they have concluded that it is not best to swap horses while crossing the river, and have further concluded that I am not so poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it in trying to swap. 1891Melbourne Argus 7 Nov. 13/2 In the stand [at a race]..I was privileged to hear the ladies talk horse. 1891R. Kipling Life's Handicap 209 Half-a-dozen planters..were talking ‘horse’ to the biggest liar in Asia, who was trying to cap all their stories. 1896Ade Artie xvii. 163 Do you think I'm goin' out ridin' with her and have a lot o' cheap skates stoppin' to play horse with her everywhere we go? 1904W. H. Smith Promoters x. 169 You've got to have some well-matured plan ..if they try to play horse with you again. 1911L. J. Vance Cynthia x. 157 Why does Madame Savaran insist on coming along to see that he doesn't play horse with her stake in the venture? 1923― Baroque viii. 49 Remember the Wop detective that used to play horse with the Black Handers. 1940‘H. Pentecost’ 24th Horse v. 42 Don't come if you don't want to... Change horses in midstream if you want to. 1948A. J. Toynbee Civilization on Trial 195 ‘Herodianism’..does not really offer a solution. For one thing, it is a dangerous game... It is a form of swapping horses while crossing a stream, and the rider who fails to find his seat in the new saddle is swept..to a death. 1951H. S. Davies Gram. without Tears vi. 56 From the point of view of strict old-fashioned grammar, this is obviously bad; it involves a change from the singular to the plural horse in mid-stream of the sentence. 1969Listener 13 Mar. 360/1 Another play which changed horses in midstream was William Ingram's Double Take. The long dialogue between the nervous kidnapper and his oddly calm victim was inconsequential and tense and had one thinking hopefully of Pinter.
*** With qualifying adjective or attribute. (dark, salt, willing horse, etc.: see the adjs.)
19. dead horse. Taken as the type of that which has ceased to be of use, and which it is vain to attempt to revive.
to work, etc. for a dead horse, or to work the dead horse: to do work which has been paid for in advance, and so brings no further profit: cf. sense 14 and horseflesh 3 b. to flog (also to mount on) a dead horse: to attempt to revive a feeling or interest which has died out; to engage in fruitless effort.
1638Brome Antipodes i. Wks. 1873 III. 234 His land..'twas sold to pay his debts; All went That way, for a dead horse, as one would say. 1668Nicker Nicked in Harl. Misc. (Park) II. 110 Sir Humphry Foster had lost the greatest part of his estate, and then (playing, as it is said, for a dead horse) did, by happy fortune, recover it again. 1830Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 271 What can have led any sensible man to mount on a dead horse like this? 1832E. C. Wines Two Years in Navy I. 73 Most of us had not ‘worked out our dead horses’. Ibid., Dead horses are debts due to the purser on account of advances of pay. 1857N. & Q. 2nd Ser. IV. 102/1 When he charges for more..work than he has really done..he has so much unprofitable work to get through in the ensuing week, which is called ‘dead horse’. 1863S. Butler First Yr. Canterbury Settlement x. 146 Some good hands are very improvident... They will come back possibly with a dead horse to work off—i.e. a debt at the accommodation house. 1872Globe 1 Aug. 3/1 For..twenty minutes..the Premier..might be said to have rehearsed that..lively operation known as flogging a dead horse. 1886F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-Bk. 186 Work done in redemption of debt is called working out the dead-horse. 1887Morley in Dict. Nat. Biog. XI. 151/2 In parliament he again pressed the necessity of reducing expenditure. Friends warned him [R. Cobden] that he was flogging a dead horse. 1907Westm. Gaz. 7 Mar. 5/2 Mr. Philip S. Head, auctioneer and house agent, stated that ‘Hillside’ had been on his books for three years. Some people when asking for a house had stated that they did not want ‘the haunted house’... His Lordship: Do you think ‘Hillside’ will always be ‘a dead horse’? 1927J. Sampson Seven Seas Shanty Bk. 45 For the first month at sea he was working for nothing—in other words he was working out the ‘dead horse’. 1935Yachting Dec. 82/3 Dead horse. The common sailor was advanced one month's pay at time of signing the articles. This usually went to his boarding-house keeper for alleged debts. During the first month out, he was said to be ‘working off the dead horse’; and at the end of this period it was the custom..to make an effigy of a horse and throw it overboard with suitable ceremonies. 1970New Yorker 10 Oct. 109/1 All this critical analysis would be a flogging of a dead horse. 1971Cabinet Maker & Retail Furnisher 1 Oct. 14/2 If this is the case, we are flogging a dead horse in still trying to promote the scheme.
20. flying horse. The mythical winged horse of the Muses, Pegasus; hence, Astron. the constellation Pegasus; see also flying ppl. a. 1 d.
1551Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 265 Harde by him is the Flying horse, named Pegasus: and doth consiste of 20 starres. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 54 To have shewid me..the flieng Horse, mightie Orion [etc.].
21. gift horse. (Earlier given horse.) A horse bestowed as a gift. to look a gift († given) horse in the mouth, to criticize and find fault with a gift.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 11 No man ought to looke a geuen hors in the mouth. 1616B. R. Withals' Dict. 578. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 490 He ne'er consider'd it, as loth To look a Gift-Horse in the mouth. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 334 It is a madness..to look a gift Horse in the Mouth. 1888J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge xxxii, He would be a fool..to look such a gift horse in the mouth.
22. great horse. The horse used in battle and tournament; the war-horse or charger [= F. grand cheval]. fig. (quot. 1800) = high horse, 23 b.
1466Clement Paston in P. Lett. No. 540 II. 259 The Kyng..is nowther horsyd nor harneysyd, for his grett hors is lykly to dye. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 13, I maie commende hym for plaiyng at weapons, for runnyng uppon a greate horse. 1615in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1849) I. 383 The king hath sent for some of his great horses to Newmarket, and for St. Anthony, the rider. 1623Massinger Bondman i. iii, His singing, dancing, riding of great horses. 1700Wallis in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 319 Here was, Not many years since, one..Mr.{ddd}in Oxford,..to teach riding the great horse. 1771R. Berenger Horsemanship I. 170 Those persons who professed the science of arms were obliged to learn the art of managing their horses, in conformity to certain rules and principles; and hence came the expression of learning to ‘ride the great Horse’. 1800I. Milner in Life xii. (1842) 204, I hope our people will not ride the great horse. a1817R. L. Edgeworth Mem. (1844) 166 To compel his antigallican limbs..to dance, and fence, and manage the great horse. 1858Sat. Rev. V. 421/2 They learned fencing, or rode the great horse, with a skill unknown to the vulgar.
23. high horse.
a. lit. = great horse.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 475 Þe emperour..made hym & his cardenals ride in reed on hye ors. a1400–50Alexander 883 Heraudis on heȝe hors hendly a-rayed.
b. to mount or ride the high horse (colloq.): said of a person affecting airs of superiority, or behaving pretentiously or arrogantly. So on the high horse. Cf. high-horsed in high a. 22 b. to come, etc., off one's high horse, to climb down, to become less arrogant.
1782T. Pasley Private Sea Jrnls. (1931) 252 Whether Sir George will mount his high Horse or be over-civil to Admiral Pigot seems even to be a doubt with himself. 1805F. Ames Wks. I. 339, I expect reverses and disasters, and that Great Britain, now on the high horse, will dismount again. 1809Malkin Gil Blas ii. vii. ¶ 5 Riding the high horse with all the arrogance of greatness. Ibid. ix. i. ¶ 2 Do not ride a higher horse than a thousand jockeys of quality whom I could name. 1831Ld. Granville Let. to Palmerston 4 Feb. in Bulwer Palmerston (1870) II. viii. 38 note, At one o'clock he [Sebastiani] was warm, warlike, and mounted on his highest horse. 1833Longfellow Outre-Mer Prose Wks. 1886 I. 118 My radical had got upon his high horse again. 1843Thackeray in Fraser's Mag. Apr. 469/2 It would be his turn to sneer and bully, and ride the high horse. 1848C. Brontë J. Eyre xvii, She appeared to be on her high horse to-night. 1869Lowell Wks. (1890) III. 213 To be sure Châteaubriand was apt to mount the high horse. 1887G. R. Sims Mary Jane's Mem. 116 They were awfully civil, and let Mrs. Master John ride the high horse over them. 1920A. Christie Mysterious Affair at Styles x. 224, I decided that I would descend from my high horse, and once more seek out Poirot at Leastways Cottage. 1928W. S. Maugham Ashenden ix. 153 Come, come, my dear fellow, do not try to ride the high horse. You do not wish to show me your passport and I will not insist. 1928Sunday Express 15 Jan. 6/4 The cable companies have come off the high horse at last in entering into negotiations with the wireless group. 1936A. Christie Murder in Mesopotamia xix. 162 I'd like to see Sheila honest enough to come off her high horse and admit that she hated Mrs. Leidner for good old thorough⁓going personal reasons. 1950W. Saroyan Assyrian & Other Stories 219 Only his mother felt that Mayo was not a rude boy, but his father frequently asked Mayo to get down off his high horse and act like everbody else. 1959Economist 20 June 1079/1 Politicians..riding on high horses.
24. a. White Horse. The figure of a white horse, reputed (by later writers) as the ensign of the Saxons when they invaded Britain, and the heraldic ensign of Brunswick, Hanover, and Kent; also, the figure of a horse cut on the face of chalk downs in England, and popularly supposed to represent the ‘white horse’ of the Saxons; notably that near Uffington in Berkshire.
[c1171Cartul. Abbey Abingdon in Hughes Scouring White Horse (1859) App. i. 215 Juxta locum qui vulgo mons Albi Equi nuncupatur.] 1368–9Close Roll 42 Edw. III (ibid.) En la vale de White Horse. 1607Camden Brit. 202 In vallem..quam a nescio qua albi equi forma, in candicanti colle imaginata, The Vale of Whitehorse vocant. 1720Magna Britania et Hibernia I. 171/1 Some fancy it to be the Monument of Uter Pen Dragon, with as much Reason..as others imagine Hengist to have made the White Horse on the Edge of the Hill. 1738F. Wise (title) A Letter to Dr. Mead..shewing that the White Horse is a monument of the West Saxons. 1780Reading Mercury 22 May in Hughes Scouring White Horse (1859) v. 93 The ceremony of scowering and cleansing..the White Horse, was celebrated on Whit-Monday. 1814Scott Wav. xi, May the white horse [of Hanover] break his neck over a mound of his making! 1856Knight Pop. Hist. Eng. I. vii. 98 [On] the chalk-hills about Wantage..the White Horse of the Saxon race has been held to be a monument of the Saxon victory. Ibid. 100 The banner of the White Horse floated triumphantly over the Danish raven. 1859Tennyson Enid 1784 As now Men weed the white horse on the Berkshire hills To keep him bright and clean. ― Guinevere 16 He [Modred]..tamper'd with the Lords of the White Horse. 1869Freeman Old Eng. Hist. for Childr. v. 33; viii. 124.
b. A high white-crested racing wave.
1833Mrs. Opie in Mem. (1854) xix. 298 The sea a succession of foaming billows, and the white horses galloping towards us. 1834Medwin Angler in Wales I. 174, I like to see the pool..full of what the Genevese call ‘moutons’ and the Irish ‘white horses’. 1848C. A. Johns Week at Lizard 102 As mariners say, the sea is covered with ‘white horses’. 1849Arnold Forsaken Merman 6 The wild white horses play, Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.
†25. wooden horse. The scaffold, the gallows (cf. a horse foaled of an acorn: 26 b); an instrument of torture. See also 6 b. Obs.
1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. ii. 247 He becomes Mordecai's Herauld and Page..(who he hoped by this time should have mounted the wooden horse). Ibid. v. xv. 419 The wooden horse hath told strange secrets.
****
26. Proverbial phrases and locutions.
a. In comparisons: as holy, as sick, as strong as a horse; to eat, or work like a horse. a horse of another (the same, etc.) colour, a thing or matter of a different (etc.) complexion.
1530Palsgr. 620/1 He maketh as thoughe he were as holy as a horse, il pretent la saincteté dung cheual. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 181 My purpose is indeed a horse of that colour. 1707Ld. Raby in Hearne Collect. 14 Sept. (O.H.S.) II. 43 He eats like a Horse. 1798Aurora (Philad.) 27 Aug. (Th.), Whether any of them may be induced..to enter into the pay of King John I. [i.e. President Adams] is ‘a horse of another colour’. 1829G. Griffin Collegians II. xxii. 160 ‘I never tought o' dat,’ said Danny... ‘Dat's a horse of anoder colour.’ 1853[see colonialism 1 b]. 1856C. Reade Never too Late I. ii. 47 A gentleman is a horse of another colour than this Robinson. 1860O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. vii. (Paterson) 143 It is a common saying of a jockey that he is ‘all horse’. 1867Trollope Chron. Barset I. xxiv. 216 What did you think of his wife? That's a horse of another colour altogether. 1877[see hoss 1]. 1937W. S. Maugham Theatre ii. 23 I'll give you a three years' contract, I'll give you eight pounds a week and you'll have to work like a horse. 1937K. A. Porter Noon Wine 38 He never got married, for one thing, and he works like a horse. 1948J. Carter Taste & Technique in Book-Collecting (1949) ii. 24 Buxton Forman's A Shelley Library, however, was a horse of a different colour: no mere handlist but a fully annotated and richly informative study of Shelley's original editions. 1952‘N. Shute’ Far Country 80 Going into the saloon for every meal, and eating like a horse. 1966Listener 5 May 661/1 A horse of a somewhat different colour is that tycoon of the brush, pop-man Salvador Dali. 1971J. Philips Escape a Killer (1972) i. ii. 18 She could now ‘eat like a horse’.
b. a horse that was foaled of an acorn, the scaffold, the gibbet. † to come for horse and harness, i.e. for one's own ends. † to run before one's horse to market, to count one's gains prematurely. horse and foot: see 3 c.
1483Caxton G. de la Tour E viij, [She] dyde come thyder only for hors and harnois, that is to wete to accomplisshe her fowle delyte. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 160 But yet I run before my horse to Market: Clarence still breathes, Edward still liues and raignes, When they are gone, then must I count my gaines. 1678Ray Prov. 253 You'll ride on a horse that was foal'd of an acorn. That is the gallows. 1708Motteux Rabelais v. xxviii. (1737) 128 May I ride on a Horse that was foal'd of an Acorn. 1828Lytton Pelham III. xviii. 296 As pretty a Tyburn blossom as ever was brought up to ride a horse foaled by an acorn.
c. Other phrases and proverbs. horses for courses: a theory that each racehorse is suited to a particular race-course, and will do better on that course than on any other; also fig.; horse and horse (U.S.): equally matched, neck and neck; the horse's mouth: the original, authentic source of information, esp. in phr. straight from the horse's mouth; horse-and-buggy (U.S.): bygone, old-fashioned (app. used as quasi-n. in quote. 1926).
c1175Lamb. Hom. 9 Hwa is þet mei þet hors wettrien þe him self nule drinken? c1300Prov. Hending xxvii, He is fre of hors þat ner nade non, quoþ Hendyng. 1390Gower Conf. II. 392 What man hath hors men yiven him hors. 1541Schole-ho. Wom. 1013 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 145 Rub a scald horse vpon the gall, and he wil bite. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 27 A man maie well bring a horse to the water, But he can not make him drinke without he will. Ibid. 75 That some man maie steale a hors better Than some other maie stande and looke vpone. Ibid. 81 For it is..A proude horse that will not beare his own prouander. 1573J. Sandford Hours Recreat. (1576) 208 He that can not beate the Horsse, beateth the saddle. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 16 b, The weather being faire, you bring a Horse to the Feelde (as they say) when you speake to me of going abrode. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Cheval, The best-shod horse doth slip sometimes. 1640Herbert Outland. Prov. Wks. (Warne) 383 Choose a horse made and a wife to make. 1659–60Pepys Diary 2 Feb., After this we went to a sport called, selling of a horse for a dish of eggs and herrings, and sat talking there till almost twelve at night. 1672W. Walker Paræmiol. 37 It is a good horse that never stumbles. a1859in Bartlett Dict. Amer. (1859) 204, I sot down to old sledge along with Jake Stebbins. It was horse and horse, and his deal. 1869Hazlitt Eng. Prov. 215 I'll not hang my bells on one horse: That is, give all to one son. 1897Marquis of Salisbury in Ho. Lords 19 Jan., Many members of this House will keenly feel the nature of the mistake that was made when I say that we put all our money upon the wrong horse. 1898A. E. T. Watson Turf vii. 160 A familiar phrase on the turf is ‘horses for courses’. 1908G. H. Lorimer J. Spurlock i. 3 It was horse and horse between the professors. 1926Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 9/2 Horse and buggy, young lady out of date—with long hair. 1927K. Eubank (title) Horse and buggy days. 1928Wodehouse in Strand Mag. Aug. 114/1 The prospect of getting the true facts—straight, as it were, from the horse's mouth—held him..fascinated. 1929Daily Express 7 Nov. 18/4 Followers of the ‘horses for courses’ theory. 1929A. Huxley Let. 1 Dec. (1969) 320 One or other of us may very likely be over..when there will be a chance of getting your news ‘straight from the horse's mouth’. 1930F. Yeats-Brown Bengal Lancer xii. 172 We discuss..what Sir Mark Sykes said, straight from the horse's mouth. 1934C. Day Lewis Hope for Poetry vi. 29 A pandemonium of slogans,..tips from the horse's mouth, straight talks,..etc. 1944J. Cary (title) The horse's mouth. 1949This Week Mag. 9 Jan. 5/1 Wherever this horse-and-buggy court is held, your chances of going scot-free are slim. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Oct. 609/1 She thinks that our docility, our patience, our contentedness or even complacency with charming, outmoded, horse-and-buggy ways of doing things are, as reflected in the public will, endangering our country's future. 1958Listener 7 Aug. 207/1 Keats' letters remain the horse's mouth. 1958Ibid. 2 Oct. 536/1 Mr. Butler [sc. a sculptor] spoke his own commentary: it was an odd mixture of naïveté and insight, a ‘horse's mouth’ statement vastly preferable to some smooth literary piece by an art critic. 1962Daily Tel. 23 Oct. 15/3 (headline) End of ‘horse and buggy’ medicine. 1963Punch 18 Sept. 430/1 People enjoy what they are capable of enjoying—horses for courses. 1972Daily Tel. 12 July 10/5 Horses for courses is a sound adage in motoring as well as the turf, and few British motorists would look to Czechoslovakia for their car. 1972J. L. Dillard Black English vi. 242 Such horse-and-buggy terms as whiffletree and singletree.
IV. attrib. and Comb.
27. a. appositive, as horse-beast, horse-foal, etc.
1573in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 347 Every beast as well *horsebeast as other. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1543/1 They wrought altogether with hors⁓beasts.
1535Coverdale Ecclus. xxiii. 30 A yonge *horse foale.
1822Lamb Elia Ser. i. Decay Beggars, He was as the man-part of a centaur, from which the *horse-half had been cloven in some dire Lapithan controversy.
b. Of, pertaining or relating to, or connected with a horse or horses, as horse-beef, horse-body, horse-craft, † horse-crag (= neck), horse-dentist, horse-dropping, horse-factor, horse-hide, horse-kick, horse-length, horse-line, horse-mane, horse-market, horse-marrow, horse-merchant, horse-muck, horse-piss, horse-sausage, horse-serum, horse-show, horse-side, horse-supply, horse-team, horse-tread, horse-trick, etc.,
1716B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1865) I. 161 They fell to roasting their *Horse-beaf. 1817Edin. Rev XXVII. 306 Half a dozen prime joints of horse-beef.
1767Young Farmer's Lett. to People 106 It has been objected, that oxen are not proper for all work—and in the *horse counties there is quite an abhorrence against their use.
1832J. P. Kennedy Swallow B. ii. (1860) 36 The mystery of *horse⁓craft.
c1470Henry Wallace x. 368 Sper and *horscrag in till sondyr he drave.
1796Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 124 The serrefiles..place themselves in rank behind their squadrons, at half a *horse distance.
1871Smiles Charact. iv. (1876) 111 De Foe was by turns *horse-factor, brick and tile maker, shopkeeper.
1887Daily News 27 July 6/3 He had complained to the *horse-foreman that the animal he drove was vicious.
a1300Cursor M. 2250 Bath wit *hors and camel hide. 1843Ainsworth's Mag. IV. 116 There were..coracles or boats of horse-hides..to be seen. 1900Westm. Gaz. 16 May 7/3 Horse-hide brawn is now being extensively made. 1959Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring & Summer 528/3 Work Gloves... Top grain horsehide or cowhide drivers.
1811Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 292 With the force of a *horse-kick.
1673Providence (R.I.) Rec. (1893) III. 248 Vntill the Comon be divided to say Cow-kind or *horse kind and sum swine. 1880Browning Muleykeh 89 A *horse-length off.
1902J. H. M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 27 If you have the last couple of hours' ‘watch’ on the *horse-lines, you see it all. 1932Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Mar. 146/3 In the night a boy on the horse-lines was killed and the flag was taken. 1934Blunden Mind's Eye 79 We were transferred to some old horse-lines.
c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 638/28 Hic juba, *horsemane.
1817V. Brown Jrnl. 11 Jan. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1916) XI. 372 This day spent in the *Horse Market trying to sell the two Horses. 1894Westm. Gaz. 13 Sept. 1/3 Of palpable material advantage to this country, the horse-market of the nations.
1909Daily Chron. 15 Apr. 4/6 The plum pudding and *horse-marrow sauce.
1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4849/4 Thomas Skitt of Newport,..*Horse-Merchant.
1607Markham Caval. i. (1617) 24 Some..out of curiositie..would become *Horse-midwiues.
1727S. Switzer Pract. Gard. ii. vii. 55 The water that procceds from a *horse-mixen is reckoned some of the best..for a melonry.
1601Holland Pliny I. 507 They prefer it before *hors-muck, and such like.
1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 199 Monster, I do smell all *horse-pisse. 1922Joyce Ulysses 75 The sweet oaten reek of horsepiss. 1935L. Durrell Spirit of Place (1969) 33 It cost 6 dracks—3d per bottle... In England I couldn't buy a bottle of horse-piss for 3d. 1973H. Miller Open City xv. 170 Dominic looked straight at Michael. ‘Horse piss... You're talking baloney.’
1900Westm. Gaz. 16 May 7/3 Breakfast consisted of *horse sausages. 1908Daily Chron. 17 Jan. 5/3 The horse-sausage boat.
1909Practitioner Dec. 867 The introduction of such large quantities (200 c.c.) of *horse-serum. 1926Encycl. Brit. II. 772/1 Particular reference may..be made to the recent therapeutic use of horse serum in the treatment of..blackwater fever. 1964M. Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 8) vii. 74 The illustration is that of a rabbit immunized with horse-serum.
1856Porter's Spirit of Times 181/2 The performances at the *horse show..were very interesting. 1865Once a Week XIII. 133/1 Within the last few years there has been a mania for shows; we have had dog shows, donkey shows, baby shows, and last, not least, horse shows. 1931Horse-show [see astride c adj.]. 1973Country Life 8 Mar. 652/1 Royal Windsor horse show, Home Park, Windsor.
1596Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 10 His Ladie..by his *horse side did pas.
1817S. R. Brown Western Gaz. 107 [The walls] are..wide enough on the top to admit a *horse team and waggon. 1866Rep. Indian Affairs 294 At Leech lake and Winnepeg, eight government oxen and two horse teams were employed ploughing during the season. 1908Westm. Gaz. 27 June 6/3 Hannah's husband was drowned whilst swimming his horse-team across the flooded river.
1570Tragedie 340 in Satir. Poems Reform. x, Sum saw him weill, and followit his *hors tred. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xli, It [the sound] was the horse-tread of the approaching Navajoes!
1599Massinger, etc. Old Law iii. ii, Look you, here's your worship's *horsetrick, sir. (Gives a spring.) 1608Merry Devil Edmonton in Hazl. Dodsley X. 221 Make her leap, caper, jerk, and laugh, and sing, And play me horse tricks.
c. For a horse; for the use, pasturage, accoutrement, housing, transport, etc. of horses, as horse-ball, horse-barn, horse-bell, horse-bin, horse-blanket, horse-blister, horse-close, horse-corn, horse-feed, horse-ferry, horse-fleam, † horse-garth, horse-girth, horse-grass, horse-hames, horse-harness, horse-heck, horse-lighter, horse-manger, horse-measure, horse-medicine, horse-net, horse-paddock, horse-path, horse-pen, horse-rack, horse-road, horse-rod, horse-rug, horse-shed, horse-ship, horse-stable, horse-track, horse-transport, horse-trappings, horse-trough, horse-yard, etc.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 421 Think of giving a *horse-ball to my May!
1854M. J. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine xix. 266 I'd as soon be married in the *horsebarn as there. 1885Rep. Indian Affairs 130 The horse-barn, carpenter-shop, warehouse, and some small buildings.
1685Lond. Gaz. No. 1998/4 It had a Coller and *Horse Bell about his Neck.
1818in Knickerbocker XXIX. 470 But wiser Bill Van Snort the jockey,..Spread his *horse-blanket in the manger. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 497 Horse blankets of various qualities. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn vi. 40 There was an old horse-blanket nailed against the logs at the far end of the cabin. 1967S. Beckett No's Knife 23 He spread a horse blanket on the ground in a corner on the straw.
1701C. Wolley Jrnl. N. York (1860) 59 A Curry Comb and *Horse-brush.
c1440Durham MS. Hostillar's Roll, In clausura circa le *horscloce.
1577Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 153 The poore laboring man..is driuen to content himselfe with *horssecorne, I meane, beanes, otes [etc.]. 1785J. Phillips Treat. Inland Navig. 11 Land, now occupied to grow horse-corn only.
1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 29 They must have taken them up behind them on their *horse-croppers.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 444 Tenements were demised with a spurre, or *horse-cury-combe.
1818J. Owen Jrnl. 13 Dec. in Southern Hist. Assoc. Publ. (1897) I. 96 No provisions to be had for *horse feed. 1823Horse-feed [see feed n. 3 b]. 1894Country Gentlemen's Catal. 23/2 The Metropolitan Tram and 'Bus Companies..have not gone scientifically into the question of horse feed. 1968R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 91 They had no time to linger on that good horse-feed: summer was already on its way.
1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1782/4 At the White-Hart-Inn, by the *Horse-Ferry, in Westminster. 1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 512 On the Thames shore, over against Lambeth palace; and..above the horse ferry.
1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 4 Oct. Let. iv, Pulling out a *horse-fleam, [he] let him blood in the farrier style.
14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 727/37 Hec singula, a *horsgarthe.
a1000in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 414 Onbutan ðone *horsgærstun. 1493Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 164 Pro j *hors gresse in parya prata apud Topclyf. 1887Rogers Agric. & Prices V. 304 The charges for a horse⁓grass..are common in the accounts.
c1325Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 171 *Hors-hames, hesteles de chival.
1483Act 1 Rich. III, c. 2 Sadeles, sadel trees, *hors harnes. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 119 Bridles and other horse harneies.
1400–1Durham MS. Almoner's Roll, Pro uno *Horshek et senevectorio.
a1656Ussher Ann. vi. (1658) 258 How far every barge, how far every *horse-lighter, how far every ship of war should steer off from each other.
1457–8Durham MS. Bursar's Roll, Pro emendacione le *horsmaunger in stabulo.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Horse-measures, a Rod of Box..divided into Hands and Inches, to measure the Height of Horses.
1873Trollope Harry Heathcote (1874) ii. 33 While they were still in the *horse-paddock, Harry turned from the track. 1966G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. vii. 144 Before the school bus was common country schools used to provide a horse-paddock for children who rode to school.
1784Cowper Lett. 19 July, Some geese were in the *horse-path, and in danger of being run over. 1847James Convict xvii, A narrow horse-path across the downs.
1738in L. Chalkley Chron. Scotch-Irish Settlement Virginia (1912–13) II. 376 One of ye corners of Col. Carter's *Horsepen. 1839J. K. Townsend Narr. Rocky Mts. v. 210 Most of the men were immediately put to work making horse-pens. 1846J. W. Webb Altowan I. iv. 116 Pointing out a spot for a horse-pen..he was not long in disappearing.
1633in Country Life (1972) 24 Feb. 470/1 In the stable a *horsracke. 1887Harper's Mag. Jan. 231/2 They alighted at the horse-rack nearest the law-office.
1739–40Richardson Pamela (1740) I. 185 This Pasture..is about half a Mile, and then comes to a Common, and near that a private *Horse-road. 1803D. Wordsworth Jrnl. 1 Sept. in Tour Scotland (1874) 146 There was no horse-road..but a person on foot..might make his way. 1824Scott St. Ronan's ix, The horse-road which winded down the valley. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. II. xlii. 570 Trees had been blazed all the way for a ‘horse road’.
1843W. Carleton Traits I. p. xiii, Beaten on the..head, with a kind of stick between a *horse-rod & a cudgel. 1968D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. iii. 49 The horse rods extended below the platform, passing through radial slots.
1869C. Gibbon R. Gray xxxi, With a coarse *horse-rug rolled in a bundle on his shoulder.
1768Penn. Gaz. 28 Jan. in N.J. Archives (1904) 1st Ser. XXVI. 24 There are belonging to the premises..a new large *horse-shed, [etc.]. 1836W. Dunlap Mem. Water Drinker (1837) I. 120 He..seated himself upon a bench under..the horse-shed in front of the house. 1849Thoreau Week on Concord & Merrimack Rivers 80 Driving a poor beast to some meeting-house horse-sheds among the hills. 1959W. R. Bird These are Maritimes ii. 53 We remembered seeing many little country churches with ancient horse sheds still at the rear.
1625in Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) I. 63 You must add five victuallers, and as many *horse-ships.
1803in W. P. & J. P. Cutler Life & Corr. (1888) II. 125 Keep your *horse-stable free from dung. 1854R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) xii. 160 All the hotels and public buildings have carriage houses and horse stables. 1904T. Watson Bethany i. 8 Among corn-cribs, cow-pens, horse-stables, pig-styes..and worm-fenced cotton fields.
1836Penny Cycl. V. 225/1 There is a *horse-track across the well-known pass of Sty Head to Wasdale.
1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph. 191 note, 200 cavalry in *horse-transports.
1480Caxton Chron. Eng. (1510) 23 a/2 Theyr cotes, theyr armure, sheldes, *hors trappure..all was whyte hertes.
c1826D. W. Jerrold in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1973) IV. 106 Oh dear, and I shall go off at last without knowing the secret. I'll stay in the *horse-trough. 1837Dickens Pickw. lii, Immersing Mr. Stiggins's head in a horse-trough full of water. 1867‘T. Lackland’ Homespun i. 140 There were times..when the horse trough was tight frozen. 1973P. Moyes Curious Affair of Third Dog i. 13 The village green, with its Victorian stone horse-trough and ugly but touching war memorial.
d. Carried, drawn, or worked by a horse or by horse-power, as horse-barge, horse-broom, horse-burden, horse-bus, horse-cab, horse-capstan, horse-cart, horse-drill, horse-gin, horse-harrow, horse-pack, horse-railroad, horse-railway (U.S.), horse-rake (hence horse-rake vb., horse-raking), horse-roller, horse-shaft, horse-sled, horse-tram, horse-wain, horse-whim, etc.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Horse-barge, one towed by horses on a canal or narrow river.
1892J. Lucas tr. Kalm's England 412 The *horsebreak is much used here to plough and clean away the weeds.
1840Picayune (New Orleans) 22 Aug. 2/5 A new thing has appeared in the streets of New York in the shape of a *horse broom for street sweeping. 1908Daily Chron. 11 Nov. 5/2 Last night the Bermondsey Borough Council decided to dispense with ten horse-brooms for street-sweeping and to employ fifty men to take their place.
a1400in Eng. Gilds (1870) 353 Euerych *horse-burdene of fresh fysh.
1905Westm. Gaz. 14 Dec. 6/3 This applies equally to motor-'buses as to *horse-'buses. 1963Times 24 May p. vi/3 One critic described the dozen passengers sitting six a side, opposite each other, in the poorly designed, inadequately ventilated, boxlike structures of the early London horsebus as ‘trussed fowls in a poulterer's window’. 1973G. Butler Coffin for Pandora vi. 135, I had not walked all the way back. There was a horse bus to Folly Bridge.
1906Westm. Gaz. 31 May 12/1 Ordinary *horse-cab fares. 1907Daily Chron. 3 July 5/2 The immediate doom of the horse cab. 1964in S. Nowell-Smith Edwardian England iii. 122 Six years later, the number of motor-taxis had grown to over 6,300 and there were now fewer than 5,000 horse-cabs.
1658Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1877) II. 147 Henceforth all *horse-carts shall bee led by the carters with a rayne. 1774A. Adams in J. Adams' Fam. Lett. (1876) 34 About two hundred men, preceded by a horsecart. 1821Horse-cart [see ass n. 5 b]. 1863D. G. Mitchell My Farm 135 An active man with a sharp scythe, a light horse-cart and a Canadian pony.
1756in N. Eng. Hist. & Gen. Register (1869) XXIII. 159 My Saddle horse which I usually Ride, and my part of the *Horse Chair, and Tackling. 1770J. R. Forster tr. Kalm's Trav. N. Amer. (1772) II. 327 The governor-general and a few of the chief people in town have coaches, the rest make use of horse-chairs.
1886T. Hardy Mayor Casterbr. xxiv, The new-fashioned agricultural implement called a *horse-drill.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Horse-gin, gearing for hoisting by horse-power.
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §15 The harrowe is good to breake the greatte clottes..and then the *horse-harowes to come after, to make the clottes small. 1791Gentl. Mag. LXI. ii. 719 Capt. Lloyd, of Killgwyn..invented, about eight years ago, a horse-harrow.
1696Lond. Gaz. No. 3228/4 A *Horse-Pack of Goods lost or mislaid.
1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. vii. (1891) 165 Busy Cambridge Street with its iron river of the *horse-railroad. 1892Aberdeen (S. Dakota) Sun 24 Nov. 6/5 The longest horse-railroad in the world runs from Buenos Ayres to San Martin..the distance being about fifty miles.
1863W. Whitman Specimen Days (1882–3) 31 At the end of the then *horse railway route on Seventh street. 1878Harper's Mag. Jan. 192 He..thought some hunting grounds might be found near the terminus of the horse-railway.
1817in Trans. Ill. State Hist. Soc. 1910 147 The ground has to be cleared of the Cornstock by..cutting them down and drawing them together with a *horse Rake. 1822J. Flint Lett. Amer. 17 A horse rake has been recently invented. 1913D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers ix. 249 He had been on the horse-rake, and, having finished, came to help her to put the hay in cocks. 1945‘G. Orwell’ Animal Farm iii. 24 Boxer and Clover would harness themselves to the cutter or the horse-rake (no bits or reins were needed in these days, of course).
1887I. R. Lady's Ranche Life Montana 95 If people tried *horse-raking when they are ordered carriage exercise, they would get a little of the latter.
1848Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 37 A *horse-sled made of saplings.
1895Daily News 29 Oct. 2/7 The lessees of the present *horse trams.
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 140/4 Carpentum, currus, *horswæn. 1838Soames Anglo Sax. Ch. (ed. 2) 283 To travel about in a horse-wain.
e. Mounted upon a horse or horses; used by or for the service of mounted soldiers; as horse-armoury, horse-arms, horse-artillery, horse-barrack, horse-bowman, horse-camp, horse-dragoon, horse-forces, horse-grenadier, horse-lancer, horse-officer, † horse-petrel, horse-quarters, horse-soldier, horse-troop, horse-trooper, etc.; performed on horseback, as horse-exercise.
1766Entick London IV. 343 The *horse-armoury is a little eastward of the White Tower.
1688Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 457 The Dutch..are getting ready..saddles and *horse armes.
1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 510/1 Should the enemy's line become disordered, the *horse-artillery gallops up to within range of grape-shot, and completes the victory.
1778J. Wesley Jrnl. 22 June (1938) 201 A new-built *horse-barrack. 1783W. Dyott Diary 28 Feb. (1907) I. 10 There is a horse barracks with one troop of the 2nd horse.
1822in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 92. The first thing you see..is a splendid horse-barrack on one side of the road.
1840Thirlwall Greece liii. VII. 20 Alexander..sent the *horse⁓bowmen forward to reconnoitre.
1712Lond. Gaz. No. 5000/2 Threescore *Horse Dragoons.
1807Coleridge Lett. to Davy 11 Sept. (1895) 515, I have..received such manifest benefit from *horse-exercise.
1632J. Lee Short Surv. 38 Their *horse-forces are raised both from among the Gentrie and the common people.
1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3807/1 First a Troop of *Horse-Granadiers, Knight Marshal's Men, Kettle-Drum. 1772Ann. Reg. 67 The trial of the horse-grenadier for imprisoning Mr. Rainsford.
1811Hist. Eur. in Ann. Reg. 106/1 A body of Polish *Horse-lancers.
1716Lond. Gaz. No. 5472/3 The Westminster Troop of *Horse-Militia.
1709Steele Tatler No. 17 ⁋2 The same Man pretended to see in the Style, that it was an *Horse-Officer.
1823Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1824) 210 Every horseman on the road, with the *horse-patrol..scampered after him. 1844Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. xix. §3 (1862) 325 The horse patrol put an end to highway robbery near London.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Poictrail de Cheval, a *Horse petrell.
1641Evelyn Diary 8 Aug., I din'd in the *Horse quarters with Sir Rob. Stone and his Lady. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xv. §141 It [Hochstrade] is always a Horse⁓quarter in the Winter Season, who use great licence.
1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 294 The dragoon..has since become a mere *horse soldier.
1600J. Dymmok Ireland (1843) 32 The rest of the *horse troopes fell in before the reare⁓warde.
1661Barriffe's Mil. Discip. (title-p.), Instructions for the exercising of the Cavalry of *Horse Troopers.
f. objective and objective genitive, as horse-breeder, horse-cabby, horse-catcher, horse-dealer, horse-duffer (Austral.), horse-feeder, horse-gelder, horse-jobber, horse-painter, horse-seller, horse-stealer, horse-tamer, horse-tender, horse-thief, horse-trader, horse-trainer, horse-waterer, etc.; horse-boiling, horse-breeding, horse-broking, horse-clipping, horse-docking, horse-duffing, horse-eating, horse-hitching, horse-hunting, horse-maiming, horse-owning, horse-slaughtering, horse-stealing, horse-taming, horse-thieving, etc., ns. and adjs.
1898Westm. Gaz. 22 Jan. 7/2 Horse-slaughtering and *horse-boiling establishments.
1607Markham Caval. i. (1617) 54 Advising all *Horsebreeders and Horsemen whatsoever.
1890Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 260, I should begin to think there was something in *horse-breeding after all.
1889The County xxii, Mrs. Stuart..does a good bit of *horse-broking in a quiet way.
1939H. Hodge Cab, Sir? 270 The old *horse-cabby.
1740Hist. Jamaica vii. 170 No common *Horse-catcher shall ride or drive in any Savannah, without giving 100l. Bond.
1761J. Thompson (title) The Compleat *Horse-dealer; or, Farriery made plain and easy.
1865W. G. Palgrave Arabia I. 36 Their trade is..a little in the *horse-dealing line.
1895Daily News 22 Oct. 6/4 Fined for *Horse Docking.
1963A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 161 *Horse- and cattle-duffers.
1888Boldrewood Robbery under Arms I. i. 9 Poaching must be something like cattle and *horse duffing. 1936M. Franklin All that Swagger x. 92 Cattle- and horse-duffing became staple industries in the wilds of Monaro.
1910Daily Chron. 14 Jan. 1/5 Saxony is not the only *horse-eating part of Germany. 1960A. Clarke Later Poems (1961) 87 Horse-eating helps this ill-fare state To Sunday plate.
1552Huloet, *Horse⁓feader, hippobotos.
1750Phil. Trans. XLVII. xii. 89 This phænomenon surprized..the *horse-flayer who attended me.
1593Nottingham Rec. IV. 239 William Yates, *horsegelder.
1848H. W. Haygarth Recoll. Bush Life Austral. vi. 61 Cattle-hunting in Australia is excellent sport..with less speed than in *horse-hunting. 1908Daily Chron. 24 Oct. 1/2 Apart from the horse-hunting we had harness to repair.
1795Sporting Mag. V. 49 A number of *horse jobbers were there.
1890Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 279 Drawing forth..encomiums from the *horse-loving..Colonel.
1907Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 5/1 Another case of *horse-maiming. 1908Daily Chron. 14 Aug. 8/6 Three horse-maiming outrages.
1820Sporting Mag. VI. 157 Stubbs, the prince of *horse-painters.
1552Huloet, *Horse seller, hippoplanus.
Ibid. *Horse stealer, hippolegus. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iv. 25 Yes, I thinke he is not a picke purse, nor a horse-stealer. 1730in Man. Corpor. N.Y. (1864) 677 That one Solomon Jennings hath been a notorious Horse-Stealer for many years past. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1895) I. 41 One of the most..predatory tribes of the mountains; horse-stealers of the first order.
1737London Mag. Aug. 456/1 At Norwich, 2 Men receiv'd Sentence of Death for *Horse-stealing. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1895) I. 43 This wild, horse-stealing tribe. 1858T. Vielé Following Drum 123 Horse-stealing from the Mexicans is a..branch of their business. 1871E. Eggleston Hoosier Schoolmaster (1872) vi. 70 The whole region..had the reputation of being infested with thieves, who practiced horse-stealing. 1937Discovery Aug. 245/2 The horse-stealing scenes in The Merry Wives.
1530Palsgr. 232/2 *Horse tamer, domptevr de cheuavlx. 1859Art Taming Horses i. 3 Mr. Rarey..as an invincible Horse-Tamer.
1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph. 365 note, Pallas, the *horse-taming goddess of frowns.
1898W. J. Locke Idols xxiii. 323 Two sturdy and swarthy peasants..pausing by the *horse-tender, received a voluble account of the situation. 1907Daily Chron. 12 Nov. 8/1 He pushed close to the horse-tender, a Somali.
1768Boston Chron. 10 Oct. 388/3 People..who have assembled..with the view of driving all *horse thieves..from amongst them. 1891M. E. Ryan Told in Hills ii. v. 61 She intimated yesterday that he might be a horse-thief. 1893Kipling Land & Sea Tales (1923) 230 Murderers, horse-thieves, and cattle-lifters.
1835R. M. Bird Hawks of Hawk-Hollow II. xiii. 137 Down you rogue, or I'll indict you for *horse-thieving. 1874R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life xxxii. 463 A band of..horse-thieving, prairie Indians. 1945Dylan Thomas Let. 28 Aug. (1966) 283 Mean, green, horse-thieving Wales.
1889Cent. Dict., *Horse-trainer. 1906Daily Chron. 4 Jan. 7/1 Only one British subject is reported to have been killed during the rising—a horse-trainer, who was accidentally shot. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Oct. 36/2 Mr. Carley, of Epsom, England, licensed horse-trainer under the English Jockey Club.
1872Daily News 2 Aug., Goodwood, as a *horsewaterer phrased it, is a ‘quality’ meeting.
g. instrumental, as horse-bitten, horse-drawn, horse-driven, horse-nibbled, horse-raised adjs.; horse-tower, horse-towing.
1677Lond. Gaz. No. 1238/4 The further shoulder full of spots, having been *Horse-bitten.
1890O. Wilde in 19th Cent. July 140 On foot, or in *horse-drawn chariot, the warriors go forth to battle. 1969Times 25 Apr. 11/3 The modern equivalent of the correspondents who no doubt wrote to you when the first steam train appeared and said that we should..travel as God intended, by horse-drawn carriage.
1900Daily News 2 Oct. 7/1 To his efforts..the cities of Philadelphia and Chicago owe their emancipation from the..delay of *horse-driven public conveyances. 1936Discovery Mar. 75/1 An ancient horse-driven windlass. 1968C. A. Doxiadis Between Dystopia & Utopia 8 We still cross our big cities at nine miles per hour, which was the speed of a horse-driven cart at the beginning of the century. 1973Guardian 18 May 10 A petition..was taken in a horse-driven carriage to Kensington Town Hall yesterday.
1638–48G. Daniel Eclog v. 106 *Horse-rais'd Hyppocrene.
1783Rules for Bargemasters etc. 9 No such *horse-tower shall take, for the towing of any barge, more than the usual price.
1795Act 35 Geo. III, c. 106 Preamble, In making *Horse Towing-Paths.
h. attrib. Like a horse, or like that of a horse, horse-like; hence coarse, unrefined: in construction sometimes approaching an adj.; as horse face (hence horse-faced adj.), horse joke, horse language, horse mouth, horse smile, horse vein; horse-headed adj. See also horse-laugh, horse-play.
1630Davenant Just Ital. ii. Dram. Wks. 1872 I. 227 See his horse veins, th' are large as conduit pipes. 1672J. Josselyn New Eng. Rarities 99 The Men are somewhat Horse Fac'd. 1681Otway Soldier's Fort. v. i, With a Horse-face, a great ugly head. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. lxii. 356 She prims up her horse-mouth. 1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 213 Here he [Tadpole] broke into a horse smile. 1865Pall Mall G. No. 208. 3/1 A vulgar, insolent horse-joke. 1910W. J. Locke Simon xii. 146 The horse-headed Englishman cried ‘banco’. 1916E. Pound Lustra 53 The horse-faced lady of just the unmentionable age. 1937C. S. Forester Happy Return 113 One of the horsefaced mannish women whom he particularly disliked.
28. Special combs.:
a. horse aloes (see quot.); horse arm (Mining), that part of a horse-whim to which horses are attached (Cassell); horse-billiards, a game played on board ship with wooden disks, on a diagram chalked on the deck; horse-bite, (a) a bite given by a horse; (b) colloq., a rough pinch on the thigh with the hand; horse-book, (a) a book about horses; (b) a betting-book; horse-boot, a leather covering for the hoof and pastern of a horse designed to protect them against over-reaching or interfering; horse brass (see quot. 1963); horse-bridge, a bridge for horses to pass over; horse-bucket (see quot.); horse butcher, a man who kills horses, esp. for food; also, a man who sells horse-meat (horse-meat 2); so horse-butchery; horse-cadger a horse-coper; horse-chanter = chanter n.1 7; so horse-chanting; horse-clipper, a man who clips horses; a pair of shears used in clipping horses; † horse-coal (see quot.); horse-doctor, one who treats the diseases of horses; so horse-doctoring; horse-drench, a draught of medicine administered to a horse; also, a horn or other vessel by which it is administered; horse feathers U.S. slang, nonsense, rubbish, balderdash; horse-fettler, a man who ‘fettles’ or attends to horses in a coal-mine (Heslop Northumb. Gloss. 1893); horse-fiddle U.S. (see quot. 1872); horse-fight, (a) a fight on horseback; (b) a fight between horses; horse-furniture, the trappings of horses; horse-gang = horse-walk (Heslop Northumb. Gloss. 1893); horse-gentler (local), a horse-tamer or breaker; horse-high a. U.S., (a) as high as a horse; (b) too high for a horse to jump over; also fig.; horse-holder, (a) a slinging frame for holding unruly horses while being shod, or for supporting sick or disabled horses (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); (b) Mil., each of the mounted horse artillery gunners who take charge of the dismounted horses while the gun is in action; † horse-holy a. (cf. ‘as holy as a horse’ 26 a); horse-hook, an iron hook on a railway carriage or truck by which a horse may be attached to draw it; horse-iron (see horse v. 11); horse-knacker, one who buys up old or wornout horses, and slaughters them for their commercial products; † horse-knave = horse-boy; horse-lease = horse-gate2; † horse-lede, horsemen; horse lot U.S., a piece of ground on which horses are pastured; horse manure, (a) = horse-dung; (b) = horse shit; † horse marshal, one who has the charge or care of horses; a horse-doctor; † horse-match, a race between two horses; † horse-meal, a dry meal without drink, such as a horse's is; horse-milliner (quasi-arch.), one who supplies ornamental trappings for horses; † horse-mithridate, an antidotal medicine for horses; horse-monger, a dealer in horses; † horse-nest = mare's nest; horse-nightcap, grimly humorous for a hangman's halter; horse opera colloq. (orig. U.S.), a ‘Western’ film or television series; horse-pew, a large pew with high sides, = horse-box 2; horse-pick, -picker, a hooked instrument, sometimes forming part of a pocket knife, used for removing a stone from a horse's foot; horse-piece, a large piece of whale's blubber; esp. a tough piece put under the pieces to be cut in order to protect the edge of the knife; horse pistol, a large pistol carried at the pommel of the saddle when on horseback; † horse-plea, a sort of special plea for delaying the cause and carrying it over the term; horse-post, a letter-carrier who travels on horseback; postal delivery by means of such carriers; horse-protector, a spiral spring for reducing the strain upon a horse in starting a vehicle; horse-ride, (a) a road for horse-traffic; (b) a ride taken mounted on a horse; horse-rough, a calk fitted to a horse's shoe to prevent slipping on frozen ground; horse-run (see quot.); † horse-running = horse-racing; horse shit U.S. slang, nonsense; horse-sickness, an acute virus disease of horses and related animals, marked by fever, difficulty in breathing, or swelling of the head, and endemic in Africa; † horse-smith, a farrier; horse's neck slang (orig. U.S.), a beverage of ginger ale flavoured with lemon-peel, with or without the addition of whisky, brandy, or gin; horse's tail (see horse-tail 1 c); horse-steps = horse-block 1; horse-tailer [tail v.1 5] Austral., one who ‘tails’ or follows horses; horse-towel, a coarse towel, hung on a roller, for general use; a jack-towel; horse-trade U.S., a deal in horses; also fig. or transf.; hence horse-trader (in quots. 1963 and 1972 = heroin-trader; cf. sense 15 above); horse-trading vbl. n., (a) U.S. dealing in horses; (b) transf., hard or unfair bargaining; horse-tree (see quots. 1787 and 1828); horse-trot (U.S.), a trotting match; † horse-twitcher (see quot.); horse-walk, the path which a horse follows in working a machine, as a gin, whim, etc.; horse-watcher (Horse-racing), one who watches the performances of racing horses and calculates their chances for particular races; horse-wrangler, in the Western U.S.: a herder having charge of a string of ponies.
1881Syd. Soc. Lex., Aloë caballina, caballine, *horse, or fetid aloes. An inferior variety..at one time used in veterinary medicine... It is black, opaque, dull in fracture, and very nauseous.
1872‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. iv, *Horse-billiards is a fine game. 1897― More Tramps Abr. iv.
1885‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. Dec. 197/1 Bowers, already irritated by the pain of the *horse-bite. 1949F. Sargeson I saw in my Dream ii. xiii. 117 He brought his hand down smartly on Len's leg, giving him a horse-bite that made him jump.
1643in Essex Co. Prob. Rec. (1916) I. 30, I give to him my *horse booke alsoe a pitchforke. 1909Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Jan. 23/1 Colonel..Dodge..is the author of two admirable horse-books. 1962K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xiv. 91 A guy I know runs a horse-book on University.
1911E. Lovett Folk Lore Horse 3 (heading) *Horse brasses. It is almost impossible to walk through any of our towns without meeting with horses..bedecked with certain brass ornaments. Ibid. 7 We now turn to the other typical horse brass, viz., the crescent. 1945‘G. Orwell’ Animal Farm iv. 34 It consisted of a brass medal (they were really some old horse-brasses which had been found in the harness-room). 1960‘R. East’ Kingston Black xiv. 135 A great glittering display of silver darts trophies and horse brasses. 1963Bloodgood & Santini Horseman's Dict. 107 Horse brasses, decorative metal ornaments in a great variety of designs hung on draft-horse harness. Probably originating in the amulets used on camels in the East and horses in Mediterranean countries to ward off the ‘evil eye’.
1637in N. Riding Rec. IV. 69 Not repairing the *horse-bridge near by Button Oak. 1647Mass. Colony Rec. (1854) III. 113 There shalbe a sufficyent horsbridge made on the riuer neere Watertowne Mill. 1791R. Mylne Rep. Thames & Isis 50 Towing path on South side requires two horse-bridges.
1827J. F. Cooper Red Rover II. viii. 134 There was a *horse-bucket kicking about her decks. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Horse-buckets, covered buckets for carrying spirits or water in.
1815Sporting Mag. XLVI. 19 A *horse-butcher's cart draws up. 1896Westm. Gaz. 28 July 10/1 There are..at least 200 horse-butcher shops in Paris. 1905Daily Chron. 26 May 5/6 Whole families have been affected by the meat, and even the horse-butcher himself who sold the meat is among the victims. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. vi. 48 A golden horse above the green and white awning..was the emblem of the horse butcher, M. Monge.
1892Daily News 2 Mar. 5/4 In the year 1866 the then Prefect of the Seine..authorized the first *horse butchery in Paris.
1886Westm. Rev. April 380 A combination of a Yorkshire *horse-cadger and a Whitechapel bully.
1835Sir G. Stephen Adv. Search Horse v. 71 Even the knavery of a professed *horse-chaunter is at fault to hide it.
1841J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk II. 7 The mysteries of horse-couping, *horse-chanting.
1552Will of R. Turke (Somerset Ho.), Cooles which are brought to London on horsback called *Horse cooles.
1672J. Lacy Dumb Lady i. Dram. Wks. (1875) 25, I understand myself to be a great *horse-doctor, sir. 1723Lond. Gaz. No. 6139/3 Rope Dancers, Horse-Doctors, Poppet-Shewers. 1810M. L. Weems Lett. (1929) III. 11 A collection in which there is not a single Bible..nor Dream-book, nor Horse Doctors. 1894Congress Rec. 1 Mar. 2500/1 We found..that he was a veterinary surgeon, called in New England a ‘horse doctor’. 1930T. S. Eliot tr. St. J. Perse's Anabasis 65 The vast court of the horse-doctor.
1807W. Irving et al. Salmagundi (1814) xv. 345 He is..resorted to as an oracle to resolve any question about..*horse-doctoring.
1607Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 129 The most soueraigne Prescription..of no better report then a *Horse-drench.
1928Amer. Speech IV. 98 Mr. William De Beck, the comic-strip comedian..assumes credit for the first actual use of the word *horsefeathers. 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) vi. 163 ‘And my orders is to see that you keep your knees together, baby.’ ‘Horse feathers,’ she said. 1936[see button v. 3]. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xvi. 173 ‘Oh, horse⁓feathers!’.. The expression which she used was new to me, but one could gather its trend. Her ribald and offensive tone jarred upon me. 1966A. A. Fair Widows wear Weeds xiv. 160 ‘We lose our licence; Sellers gets fined and maybe you get prosecuted for perjury.’ ‘Horsefeathers!’ Bertha snorted. 1967J. Gardner Madrigal ii. 21 Mostyn pointed out that..they could court-martial him in camera... On reflection, Boysie realised that this was all a load of horse feathers.
1807J. Jennings Let. 19 Sept. in Ind. Hist. Coll. Soc. Publ. (1932) X. 164 The French..convened around the house of the new couple..playing on *horse fiddles. 1843Knickerbocker XXI. 46 The clangor of trumpets, the clattering of pans, the grinding of horse-fiddles. 1872E. Eggleston End of World xlvi. 294 Bill Day had a gigantic watchman's rattle, a hickory spring on a cog⁓wheel. It is called in the West a horse-fiddle, because it is so unlike either a horse or a fiddle. 1911H. Quick Yellowstone Nights viii. 212 In addition to the horse⁓fiddles and bells and horns Absalom had arranged some private theatricals.
1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 58 The Persians have sometime prevailed in *horse-fights. 1897Edin. Rev. Oct. 394 Savage horse-fights, and sombre legends of Lapland witch⁓women.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 654 All his *horse-furniturne..were of Gold. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxvi, They strip the animals, and bring away their horse-furniture.
1889J. J. Hissey Tour in Phaeton 140 Over a house..we read the inscription ‘*horse-gentler’.
1859,1879*Horse-high [see hog-tight adj. s.v. hog n.1 13 a]. 1896W. A. White Real Issue 147 In the summer the field stood horse-high with corn. a1930D. H. Lawrence Sex, Lit. & Censorship (1955) 12 The Clean Books League, whose object was to make the law..‘horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong’. 1972Christian Science Monitor 28 Sept. 16/4 The pioneers..tipped the stumps up with their roots in the air, and lined them along so they were, as the saying went, ‘horse-high, hog-tight, and bull-strong’.
1837A. F. Oakes Madras Horse Artillery 18 The rear rank are *horse-holders. 1875Man. Field Artillery Exerc. viii. 285 The horse-holders do not dismount. 1902J. H. M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 35 When calvary are dismounted for skirmishing, one man of every four—the horse-holder, or number three—is out of action. 1936C. S. Forester General 7 In a long straggling line..lay the troopers of the squadron..firing away. In a gully to the rear..were the horses and horseholders.
1589Nashe Almond for Parrat 18 a, This *hors-holy father preaching.
1750T. R. Blanckley Naval Expos., *Horse Irons, used by the Caulkers, when they cannot come at a Seam with their common Irons. c1850[see horse v. 11].
1937John o' London's 5 Feb. 762/2 [A girl] promised to wait for me. She didn't, though. Too impatient. Married a *horse⁓knacker.
c1300Havelok 1019 It ne was non *horse-knaue. 1390Gower Conf. II. 48, I must nedes sue her route..And am but as her horse knave. 1887E. Gilliat Forest Outlaws 235 More I heard, mostly from Alan her horse-knave.
1721Lond. Gaz. No. 5930/3 A Fishpond and *Horse-Lease in the Common.
c1205Lay. 23012 His wepnen and his weden & his *hors⁓leden.
1847W. T. Thompson in Spirit of Times 24 July 250/2 Way he went.., down around the house, through the *horse lot, and into the old field. 1850Rep. Comm. Patents 1849: Agric. 144 The man..has..no time to make manure, or to haul out and spread the little that is dropped in his horse-lot. 1889Harper's Mag. June 123/2 In the horse lot she found her father putting on his coat. 1966Publ. Amer. Dial Soc. xlii. 19 Horselot, the enclosure around a stockbarn.
1843S. L. Dana Muck Man. Farmers (ed. 2) vi. 135 The dung of pigeons is 2-7ths stronger than *horse manure. 1954A. G. L. Hellyer Encycl. Garden Work 127/2 Horse manure can be used safely for all plants and crops for which animal manure is desirable. 1956Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) (ed. 2) II. 1011/1 Horse manure is especially valuable in mushroom growing. 1957J. Osborne Entertainer viii. 67 She's not interested in all that horse manure about Canada. 1964New Statesman 1 May 674/1 Imagine his furious indignation if a similar contre⁓temps had arisen (as well it might) at a Washington club because one had been reported as saying on television that federal policy on racial discrimination in the South is a load of horse-manure.
1508Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 475 A *horse marschall thou call the at the mute. 1670Ray Prov., Scott. Prov. 296 Unskild mediciners and horsemarshels.
1632Sanderson Serm. I. 299 Who can reasonably say, that *horse-matches..are in themselves wholly unlawful? 1707Lond. Gaz. No. 4371/4 Two Horse Matches will be run for on Wakefield out-wood..for Two Plates.
1760C. Johnston Chrysal II. i. ii. 12 *Horse-meals..are enough to choak human creatures!
a1770Chatterton Balade Charitie 56 in Rowley Poems (1778) 207 The *horse-millanare his head with roses dighte. 1829W. Irving Conq. Granada lxxvii. (1850) 417 Saddlers and harness-makers and horse-milliners, also, were there.
1614Markham Cheap Husb. i. i. (1668) 7 Give him..2 spoonfuls of Diapente, or such like, which is called *Horse-Mithridate.
a1400Octouian 836 What thenkest dow be an *horsmonger? c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 650/18 Hic mango, a horsemownger.
1583Stanyhurst æneis To Rdr. (Arb.) 14 Soom grammatical pullet..would stand clocking agaynst mee, as thogh hee had found an *horse nest. a1639Breton Sch. Fancie (1879) 6 (D.) To laugh at a horse nest, And whine too like a boy.
1593Bacchus Bountie in Harl. Misc. (Park) II. 304 His very head so heavie, as if it had beene harnessed in an *horse-nightcap. 1681Dial. Oxford Parl. II. 28 He better deserves to go up Holborn in a Wooden Chariot, and have a Horse Night-Cap put on at the farther end.
1927Motion Picture Classic 2 July 26/1 *Horse Opera..is an opus of the West where men are cowboys. 1948‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair xix. 227 That happens only in detective-stories and the last few minutes of horse-operas. 1957E. Hyams Into Dream 244 An officer who looked like a bad-man Mexican in an early horse-opera. 1958Times 17 Nov. 8/6, 21 per cent. of the available time is devoted to westerns (28 of these ‘horse-opera’ series are being broadcast).
1778Learning at a Loss II. 24 He..began digging his Jaw-bone with his *Horse-picker..as if it had been the Hoof of the Animal.
1840F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. II. 211 The blubber is..cut with spades into slips, or ‘*horse-pieces’, which, (after they have been ‘minced’..upon an elevated block of wood, termed the ‘horse’) [etc.]. 1874C. M. Scammon Marine Mammals 119 The fat [of the sea elephant].. is cut into ‘horse-pieces’, about eight inches wide, and twelve to fifteen long.
1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4055/4 One Pair of *Horse Pistols. 1814Scott Wav. xxxix, Discharging one of his horse-pistols at the battlements.
1796J. Anstey Pleader's Guide (1803) 116 Of *Horsepleas, traverses, demurrers, Jeofails, imparlances and Errors.
1668Lond. Gaz. No. 304/4 A new *Horse-Post is setled, to carry Letters twice every week between Exeter and Lawnston. 1711Ibid. No. 4866/1 Any Offender..that shall presume to..employ any Foot-Post, Horse-Post, or Packet-Boat.
1887Pall Mall G. 3 Sept. 5/1 The ‘*Horse Protector’, only just introduced into this country..consists of a series of spring coils of great strength connecting the vehicle with the traces of the horses.
1903Daily Chron. 6 Nov. 3/3 On one side of it there will be a *horse-ride, and on the other..a gravelled walk for foot passengers. 1906W. Owen Let. 15 Aug. (1967) 31 Mr. Smallpage has just been for a horse-ride.
1842–67Gwilt Archit. Gloss., *Horse-run, a contrivance for drawing up loaded wheelbarrows of soil from the deep cuttings..by the help of a horse, which goes backwards and forwards instead of round, as in a horse-gin.
1601Holland Pliny II. 490 Those *horse-runners they called Celeres.
1504Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. in Pitcairn Crim. Trials I. *121 He wan fra þe King on *hors-rynnyng, xxviiij.s. 1601Holland Pliny I. 222 The horses..who had woon the price in the horse-running at Veij.
1955M. McCarthy Charmed Life (1956) iii. 66 Pardon me if I say that's *horse shit. 1959W. Burroughs Naked Lunch 98 Gentlemen of the jury,..are we to gulp down this tissue of horse shit? 1970It 12–25 Feb. 2 ‘This is definitely the weekend of the big bust!’ ‘Horseshit! You've said the same thing for the past six weekends!’
1822J. Campbell Trav. S. Afr. 2nd Journey I. ii. 32 The *horse sickness..was prevailing much at that time. 1885Manch. Exam. 13 June 5/3 Horse-sickness is one of the drawbacks of these fat plains. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 637 The horse-sickness and tsetse fly..occur as soon as you get into the forest behind the littoral region. 1899W. J. Knox-Little Sk. & Stud. S. Afr. (ed. 2) iv. 93 Let us hope..rinderpest, horse-sickness, and the locusts will yet be conquered. 1947J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life S. Afr. vi. 50 The zebra..has..the immense advantage of being entirely immune from Horse Sickness and Nagana disease. 1963Jubb & Kennedy Path. Domestic Anim. II. 585/1 Even in districts where horsesickness recurs annually, the distribution tends to be limited to low-lying areas such as valleys, swamps, and areas with summer rain.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vn Mareschal, a Ferrier, a *horse smith.
1903‘C. E. Merriman’ Lett. from Son 177 Every man then visited the tool-house, where a tin wash-boiler filled with what they call here ‘*horse's neck’, a savage compound of whiskey and hard cider, occupied the place of honor. 1925J. Metcalfe Smoking Leg 138 A tall young man in a grey suit whose drink was horse's neck in summer and Burton in the winter. 1936E. Ambler Dark Frontier xiii. 219, I ordered a Horse's Neck, remembered how bad the gin was..and had a small beer instead. 1938L. MacNeice I crossed Minch ii. xv. 211 If I could sit in a garden shady With a Horse's Neck or a White Lady. 1968Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 13 Dec. 43/3 Brandy and soda, or brandy and some soft drink like ginger ale—the Horse's Neck—have become women's drinks.
1828Craven Dial., *Horse-steps, steps for the convenience of mounting a horse, a horse-block.
1933Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Aug. 20/2 Then the *horse-tailer pulled out, and an abo. was given the job. 1954B. Miles Stars my Blanket xxiii. 202 The ‘horse tailers’, whose job it was to look after the mob of spare horses. 1968K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 100, I was only twenty at the time and working as horse-tailer for a cattle-drover.
1861J. G. Sheppard Fall Rome xiii. 744 The rough *horse-towel which hung on a roller before the door.
1846Knickerbocker XXVIII. 361 He was employed in..an action brought by a man against another for cheating him in a ‘*horse-trade’. 1902A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden iii. 22 His self-confidence could not admit of a thought that he could be fooled in a horse trade. 1923Daily Mail 15 June 9 [New York World] We hope that foreign Powers will not be weak enough to consent to such unprincipled horse trade.
1850L. H. Garrard Wah-to-Yah vii. 109 The unfair *horsetrader might have taken my scalp. 1912I. S. Cobb Back Home 3 The swapping ring below the wagonyard was..clamorous with the chaffer of the horse-traders. 1932W. Faulkner Light in August xiii. 283 A room where it will be quiet when her time comes, and not every durn horsetrader or courtjury that passes through the hallway. 1963T. Tullett Inside Interpol iv. 44 There is another process..that of turning the morphine into heroin, and the price then soars to {pstlg}600 a pound. Even this gigantic profit is not enough for the ‘horse-traders’, as these criminals are known. 1972H. C. Rae Shooting Gallery ii. 67 And how many hose-traders are there in this part of the world?
1826T. Flint Recoll. 64 *Horse-trading..seems to be a favorite and universal amusement. 1853J. G. Baldwin Flush Times Alabama 273 An enterprising young gentleman..engaged..in the horse-trading line. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 190 We stayed in camp here for two days, during which time we did some horse-trading. 1902A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden iv. 28 A horse-trading expedition. 1939I. Baird Waste Heritage xix. 262 There is too damn much horse-trading going on around here. 1947Forum 24 May 4/3 It was certain that some hard bargaining had taken place in that upstairs conference room, political horse-trading at which South Africa's politicians are adept. 1969Times 25 Apr. 28/3 Employers in the Lancashire textile industry were accused..of ‘horse trading’. 1971New Scientist 20 May 460/1 A powerful ingredient in all this horsetrading is the continually deteriorating employment situation in the aerospace industry.
1787W. Marshall Norfolk Gloss. (E.D.S.), *Horse-tree, whippin; or swingletree. 1828Craven Dial., Horse-tree, the beam on which timber is placed previous to sawing.
1882Burdette Life of W. Penn viii. 134 The agricultural *horse-trot of the county fair.
1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. (1865) 13 Horse-racing is not a republican institution; *horse-trotting is.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Barnacle, Among Farriers, Barnacles, *Horse-twitchers, or Brakes, are Tools put on the Nostrils of Horses, when they will not stand quietly to be Shoo'd, Blooded, or Dress'd of any sore.
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 124 Lord Clifford has erected a thrashing machine the *horse-walk of which is 28 feet in diameter.
1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 303 Meeting any of the numerous touts and *horse-watchers. 1894Daily News 10 Sept. 3/1 The horse-watchers were, however, wrong, and the real spin was decided on Friday.
1888Century Mag. Apr. 851/2 There are two herders, always known as ‘*horse-wranglers’—one for the day and one for the night. 1902O. Wister Virginian x. 109 The foreman of the 76 outfit, and the horse-wrangler from the Bar Circle-L. 1968R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 102 Various packers and horse wranglers, with their pack-trains, moved with the party or made rendezvous with them as the work demanded.
b. In names of animals (sometimes denoting a large or coarse kind, sometimes with the sense of ‘infesting horses’): horse ant, a large species of ant; horse bot, the fly Gasterophilus intestinalis, esp. its larva which is a parasite of horses; also horse bot-fly; horse-conch, a large shell-fish (Strombus gigas); horse-crab = horseshoe-crab; † horse-eel = horse-leech; horse-emmet = horse-ant; horse-finch, a local name of the chaffinch (Swainson Prov. Names Birds); horse-lark, name in Cornwall for the corn bunting (Swainson); † horse-marten, ‘a kind of large bee’ (Johnson, citing Ainsworth); horse-masher, -musher = next (a); horse-match, -matcher, local names for two different birds: (a) the Stonechat or Wheatear (Saxicola œnanthe); (b) the Redbacked Shrike (Lanius collurio); horse-mussel, a large and coarse kind of mussel of the genus Modiola; also a freshwater mussel, Unio or Anodonta; horse-smatch = horse-match (a); horse-sponge, the commercial bath-sponge (Spongia equina), found in the Mediterranean; horse-stinger, a popular name for the Dragon-fly; horse-thrush, local name for the missel thrush (Swainson); horse-tick = horse-fly; † horse-whale, the walrus; horse-winkle, the common periwinkle (Littorina littorea); horse-worm, a ‘worm’ or maggot infesting horses, as the larva of the common bot-fly.
1721Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 132 There are several sorts of Ants, some of which are larger than our common House Flies; these are call'd *Horse-Ants. 1747Gould Eng. Ants 2 note, They [Hill Ants] are also called Horse Ants, or Hippomyrmaces..probably on Account of their being superior in Size to the other species. 1815Kirby & Sp. Entomol. I. viii. 230 Ants will sometimes plant their colonies in our kitchens (I have known the horse-ant, Formica rufa, do this). 1908Westm. Gaz. 16 Apr. 10/3 The ‘horse-ant’,..(Formica rufa), the big fellow which builds the great heaps, usually of pine-needles. 1945C. P. Haskins Of Ants & Men ix. 167 Typical of this group [sc. raiding ants] is Formica rufa, the ‘horse ant’ or ‘fallow ant’ of England and Europe, whose great thatched mounds form a conspicuous feature of the German forests.
1744–50W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. i. 132 (E.D.S.) If the fly, dar, or *horse-bee should happen to blow your sheep.
1840J. & M. Loudon tr. Köllar's Treat. Insects i. 53 The *Horse-bot, a larva proceeding from a fly resembling a humble-bee with two wings. 1925A. D. Imms Gen. Textbk. Ent. iii. 652 The horse bot-flies..lay their eggs on the hair. 1928Metcalf & Flint Destructive & Useful Insects xxii. 779 The common horse bot may easily be told by the faint smoky spots on the wings. 1968Oxf. Bk. Insects 138/2 Horse-bot fly (Gasterophilus intestinalis). This belongs to a separate sub-family in Muscidae—the Gasterophilinae.
1885C. F. Holder Marvels Anim. Life 85 The hermit-crab..that hauled about a shell of the *horse conch.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 98 Þare er in þe lowgh *hors iles of wonderfull greteness. 1483Cath. Angl. 189/2 An Horse ele [v.r. eylle] sanguis-suga.
1755Johnson, *Horseemmet, ant of a large kind. 1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 9 Wheatear (Saxicola œnanthe)..Horse smatch, or Horse musher.
Ibid. Index, *Horse masher.
1736–52Ainsworth Lat. Dict., The *horse match (bird), œnanthe. 1848Zoologist VI. 2290 The red-backed shrike is in G[loucestershire] a ‘French magpie’ or a ‘horse match’.
1879Jefferies Wild Life in S. Co. x. 159 *Horse-matchers or stonechats also in summer often visit the rickyard. 1882― Bevis III. vi. 85 The horse-matcher is the bold hedge-hawk or butcher bird.
1626Bacon Sylva §875 The great *horse-Mussle, with the fine shell, that breedeth in Ponds, do..gape and shut as the oysters do. 1661J. Childrey Brit. Bacon. 178 In the Rivers Dee and Done is..a shel-fish called the Horse-Muskle, in which there grow Pearls, as Orient as the best. 1791Statist. Acc. Scotl., Lanark. II. 179 (Jam.) A large bivalvular shell-fish known here by the name of the horse-muscle..in some of them are found small pearls.
1772Ann. Reg. 207 Large insects, about the size of a *horse⁓stinger. 1910Encycl. Brit. VIII. 468/1 Dragon-fly... In many parts of England are termed ‘horse-stingers’. It is almost needless to say that (excepting to other insects..) they are perfectly innocuous. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 134 Flies, mosquitos, beetles, March flies, blowflies, and horsestingers.
c893K. ælfred Oros. i. i. §15 For þæm *horsc⁓hwælum, for ðæm hie habbað swiþe æþele ban on hiora toþum. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 5 For the more commoditie of fishing of horsewhales. 1863Kingsley Water-Bab. vii. 275 Right whales and horse-whales.
c. In names of plants, fruits, etc. (often denoting a large, strong, or coarse kind: cf. similar use of Rosz- in German, in Roszveilchen, etc.): horse-balm, a strong-scented labiate plant of the North American genus Collinsonia, with yellowish flowers (Webster 1864); horse-bane, name for species of Œnanthe, esp. Œ. Phellandrium, supposed to cause palsy in horses; horse-bean, a leguminous plant grown as food for cattle, as Vicia faba, Canavalia ensiformis, Parkinsonia aculeata, or their seeds; horse-beech, the Hornbeam (see beech 2); horse-blob, local name of the Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris); horse-bramble, local name of the wild rose (W. Marshall Norfolk II. Gloss. 1787); horse-brier, ‘the common greenbrier or cat-brier of N. America, Smilax rotundifolia’ (Cent. Dict.); horse-cane, the Great Ragweed of N. America, Ambrosia trifida (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886); horse-cassia, a leguminous tree (Cassia marginata or Cathartocarpus marginatus), bearing long pods containing a purgative pulp used in the East Indies as a medicine for horses (Webster 1864); † horse-chire, an old name for Germander (Teucrium Chamædrys); horse-cress, local name for Brooklime (Veronica Beccabunga); horse-cucumber (see quot.); horse-daisy, the Ox-eye Daisy (see daisy n. 2); † horse-elder, corrupt form of horseheal, elecampane; horse-eye, horse-eye bean, the seed of the Cowage (Mucuna pruriens), a West Indian leguminous plant; also that of Dolichos Lablab; horse-fennel (see fennel); † horse-flower, a species of Cow-wheat (Melampyrum arvense); † horse-gall, an old name for Erythræa Centaureum; horse-gentian, -ginseng, a North American caprifoliaceous plant of the genus Triosteum, having a bitter root; horse-gog, local name for different varieties of plum, having a harsh taste; horse-gowan, name given in Scotland to the Ox-eye Daisy and other large composites with similar flowers; horse-gram, a leguminous plant (Dolichos biflorus) grown in India as food for horses; horse-jag, -jug (dial.) = horse-plum 1; horse-knob, -knop, -knot (dial.), the head of the Knapweed, also the plant itself; horse mushroom, a species of edible mushroom, Agaricus arvensis, larger and coarser than the common mushroom; horse-nettle, a North American weed of the nightshade family (Solanum carolinense); horse-nicker, a large West Indian shrub, Cæsalpinia bonduc, or its seeds; horse-parsley, a large-leaved umbelliferous plant, Smyrnium Olusatrum (Prior Plant-n. 1879); † horse-pear, ? a large or coarse variety of pear; horse-pipe, local name for several species of Equisetum or Horsetail; horse poison, a West Indian plant, Isotoma longiflora; horse-poppy = horse-fennel; horse-purslane, a West Indian plant, Trianthema monogyna (Webster 1828); horse-sorrel, the Water-dock, Rumex Hydrolapathum; horse-sugar, a shrub (Symplocos tinctoria) found in the southern United States, also called sweetleaf, the leaves of which are used as fodder (Webster 1864); horse-thistle, † (a) an old name for ‘Wild Endive’ or Succory (Cichorium Intybus), and for Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa); (b) a thistle of the genus Cirsium (sometimes reckoned a subgenus of Cnicus) (Miller Plant-n. 1884); † horse-thyme, Turner's name for Wild Basil (Calamintha Clinopodium); horse-tongue, (a) the shrub Ruscus Hypoglossum (= double-tongue 2); (b) the Hart's-tongue Fern (Miller Plant-n.); horse-vetch = horseshoe-vetch (Webster 1828); horse-violet, local name for the Dog-violet, in Essex, etc.; horse-weed, name for two North American plants, Erigeron canadensis (N.O. Compositæ), also called butter-weed (now frequent in England), and Collinsonia canadensis (N.O. Labiatæ), also called horse-mint (Miller Plant-n.); horse-wellgrass (Sc.) = horse-cress (cf. well-grass, watercress) (Jam.); † horse-willow = horsetail 2 ; horse-wood, name for various West Indian shrubs or trees of the genus Calliandra.
1894Harper's Mag. Mar. 562, I passed a luxuriant clump of..*horse-balm.
1818Withering's Brit. Pl. (ed. 6), Phellandrium aquaticum..Water Hemlock, or *Horsebane.
1684I. Mather Remark. Prov. (1890) 216 The stone weighed about seven grains, being much in the shape of our ordinary *horse-beans. 1707–12Mortimer Husb. (J.), Only the small horsebean is propagated by the plough. 1787Winter Syst. Husb. 253 A bushel of horse beans weighed sixty four pounds. 1811Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 137 A fricasee of horse-beans. 1942Castetter & Bell Pima & Papago Agric. 60 Of somewhat less importance were the seeds of..Jerusalem thorn or horsebean (Parkinsonia aculeata). 1964J. M. Kingsbury Poisonous Plants of U.S. 43 Parkinsonia aculeata, horsebean. Ibid. 362 Vicia faba L. Fava bean, broad bean, horse bean. 1965E. G. B. Gooding et al. Flora of Barbados 198 Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC. (Horse bean, Overlook bean, Sword bean, etc.) is sometimes grown as a vegetable. The young pod is sliced, and eaten like French beans.
1731Gray in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 36 It was that Sort of Wood they call *Horse-Beech.
1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 120 The *horse-blob swells its golden ball.
1597Gerarde Herbal App., *Horsechire is Germander.
1879Britten & Holland Plant-n., *Horse Cress, Veronica Beccabunga.—E. Yks. One of its French names is Cresson du cheval.
1707–12Mortimer Husb. (J.), The *horse-cucumber is the large green cucumber, and the best for the table, green out of the garden.
1597Gerarde Herbal App., *Horselder is Enula campana.
1700W. King Transactioneer 23 The Second sort of Bean is called the *Horse Eye-Bean, for its resemblance to the Eye of that Beast by reason of a Hilus almost surrounding it. 1707Sloane Jamaica I. 179 Horse-eye Bean..of a light-brown colour, with a black ledge or hilus almost round them, looking something like a horses eye, whence the name. 1750G. Hughes Barbadoes 215 A large downy pod inclosing from one to three beans, called Horse-Eyes.
1578Lyte Dodoens ii. xiv. 163 Of *Horse floure or Cowe wheate..They call this herbe..in Brabant Peertsbloemen: that is to say, Horse floure.
a1500Gl. Sloane 5 in Sax. Leechd. III. 333/1 *Horsegalle, centaurea minor.
1864Webster, *Horse-gentian..called also fever-wort.
1842Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 10. 16 The corn-feverfew..the great ox-eye..and the corn-chamomile..have been, in Berwickshire, denominated *horse-gowans, and in Northumberland white-gowlons.
1886A. H. Church Food Grains India 162 *Horse-Gram, this species of Dolichos is either suberect or twining in habit.
1886Cheshire Gloss., *Horse⁓jug, or horse plum, a small red plum.
1730–6Bailey (folio), *Horse-Knobs, Heads of Knap-weed.
1876Whitby Gloss., Horse-knobs,..knob weed, or black knapweed, Centaurea nigra.
1674–91Ray N.C. Words 30 *Horseknops, Heads of Knapweed so called. 1868Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Horse-knops, the plant black knapweed..Also called Hard⁓heads.
1866Lindley & Moore Treas. Bot. II. 598/1 The *horse-mushroom need not be excluded on account of its supposed unwholesomeness. 1890R. D. Blackmore Kit & Kitty III. iii. 39 Mingling with the true Agaric some very fine ‘Horse-mushrooms’. 1966Times 28 Apr. 16 Horse mushrooms are bigger and stronger flavoured than proper field mushrooms.
1860Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3), *Horse-Nettle,..a plant well known for its orange yellow berries.
1750*Horse-nicker [see nicker n.4]. 1871C. Kingsley At Last I. i. 36 The grey horse-nicker-beads of our childhood. 1965E. G. B. Gooding et al. Flora of Barbados 176 Caesalpinia bonduc... Grey nicker, Horse-nicker... Shrub, often scrambling by means of prickles.
1657Beale in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 517 The croft Crab and white or red *Horse-pear do excel them and all others [for cider]. 1671Ibid. VI. 2147 The Horse-pears..the white and the red of several kinds, yield abundance of pleasant liquor.
178.Ann. Agric. IV. 431, Staff., *Horse-pipe, Equisetum arvense.
1851P. H. Gosse Nat. Sojourn Jamaica 80 One of the most venomous of plants (Isotoma longiflora) commonly called *Horse-poison. 1955W. Indian Med. Jrnl. IV. 73 Isotoma longiflora..Madam Fate; Star Flower; Horse Poison.
1578Lyte Dodoens v. ix. 559 Called..in Englishe, Great Sorrel, Water Sorrel, and *Horse Sorrel.
c1450Herbal in MS. Douce 290 lf. 142 Endive is an herbe þat som men callet *hors þistel. 1597Gerarde Herbal App., Horse Thistle is wild Lettuce.
1548Turner Names of Herbes, Clinopodium..may be called in englishe *horse Tyme, because it is like greate Tyme.
1562― Herbal ii. 15 a, A Garland made of the leaues of *hors tong. 1736–52Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (1783) 11, Hippoglossum,..the herb horse-tongue, or tongue-wort.
1790L. Castiglioni Viaggio negli Stati Uniti II. 333 Collinsonia canadensis, Lin. *Horse-weed. 1874J. W. Long Amer. Wild-Fowl Shooting xxiii. 239 The hunter usually selects a position..amongst the high ‘horse-weeds’ bordering the field. 1892B. Torrey Foot-path Way 72 Acres and acres of horseweed. 1963H. A. Gleason Illustr. Flora North-eastern U.S. III. 475/1 Conyza canadensis (L.) Cron. Horseweed. Coarse annual... A weed in waste places.
1611Cotgr., Queuë de cheval, Shaue-grasse, *Horse-willow, horse-taile.
1756P. Browne Jamaica 279 *Horse-wood or Hoop-wood. This shrub is very common in St. Mary's.
▸ horse whisperer n.popularized in late 20th cent. by Nicholas Evans' 1995 novel The Horse Whisperer, and the 1998 film adaptation of the same name a person who tames or trains horses with non-aggressive methods, typically using body language and gentle vocal encouragement rather than physical contact; = whisperer n. 1b.
1843S. C. Hall & A. M. Hall Ireland III. 511/1 (Index), Sullivan, *horse ‘whisperer’. 1880Q. Rev. Jan. 210 It is difficult to analyze or to define the precise charm of Borrow's books. But as to their fascination there can be no manner of doubt; and we are half inclined to refer it to some such mysterious influence as made the ‘Lavengro’ a snake-charmer and a horse-whisperer. 1994Times (Nexis) 26 Oct. Robert Redford, who is to produce the film and to take the title role of the horse whisperer, a man with a gift for taming wild horses. 1998Guardian 24 Aug. ii. 4/5 Even while riding the crest of the wave of public interest, Roberts and most prominent horse whisperers..have tried to distance themselves.
▸ horse whispering n. a method of taming or training horses with non-aggressive methods, typically using body language and gentle vocal encouragement rather than physical contact; an instance of this.
1909Washington Post 12 June 6/6 Mankind thought in those days that *horse whispering was magic. 2001Independent 10 May. (MBA Suppl.) 5/2 Horse whispering has a lot to recommend it because it is based on building trust through reward rather than punishment.
▪ II. horse, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. a. trans. To provide with a horse or horses; to set on horseback.
a1100O.E. Chron. an. 881 Þær þa warð se here horsad æfter þam ᵹefeohte. Ibid. an. 1015 West Seaxe buᵹon..& horsodon þone here. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12715 Of þem alle last horsed he was. 1470–85Malory Arthur i. xiv, Syre kay..lad his hors vnto syr gryflet & horsed hym ageyne. 1582–8Hist. James VI (1804) 250 He suddainlye horsit himselff for saifftie of his lyffe, and came furth of the village. 1611Coryat Crudities 80 Maron of Turin, who horsed oure Company from Lyons to Turin. 1688in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 429 He horst a servant, and sent him with a Letter to the Bishop. 1799Sheridan Pizarro Prol., Horsed in Cheapside. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. I. v. 324 The Danes horsed themselves and ravaged the whole western part of the shire.
b. To furnish (a vehicle) with horses; esp. to provide horses for carriages and coaches on a given length of road. Also transf., to provide the engine for a railway train.
1755Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 167 We set out with less than thirty carriages..all of them strongly horsed. 1809Taunton Cases in Com. Pl. 50 On the road..the separate Defendants horsed the separate stages. 1812P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 47 One Kitty Lockey, who horses the mail. 1842P. Parleys Ann. III. 85 He immediately gave orders that his carriage should be horsed. 1888Pall Mall G. 23 July 6/2 Twelve 16-pounder guns, horsed for service. 1897Westm. Gaz. 30 Dec. 3/2 The North-Eastern again took up the ‘horsing’—as the original agreement terms it—of the northern portion of the East Coast triumvirate.
2. intr. To mount or go on horseback.
c1400Destr. Troy 11044 Polidamas..Horsit in hast. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 234 King Loth thair lord..syne horsit hes agane. 1661Pepys Diary 19 Sept., Then we all horsed away to Cambridge. 1670–98R. Lassels Voy. Italy I. 52 We dined, horsed, and went that night to Susa. 1853G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 90 He had to horse it with guides, and carry all necessaries.
†3.
a. trans. To raise or hoist up. Obs.
c1460Towneley Myst. xxiii. 108 Stand nere, felows, and let se how we can hors oure kyng so fre. 1542Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 11 Item, for vj. peces of tymbere to horse the belles..iijd. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 849 Three of them stole a horse..but were therefore horsed on a Gibbet. 1637T. Morton New Eng. Canaan (1883) 202 If hee tread on the trapp hee is horsed up by the legg, by meanes of a pole that starts up and catcheth him.
b. Salt-making. (See quot.)
1886Cheshire Gloss., Horse,..to set the lumps of salt upon the top of each other in the hothouse.
4. a. To carry on a man's back or shoulders.
c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) v. 58 Madynis..hes their mynȝonis on the streit To horss thaim quhair the gait is ruch. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 93 Horsing the deer on his own Back, and making off. 1780A. Young Tour Irel. II. 250 They send to the fair one's cabin to inform her that on the Sunday following ‘she is to be horsed’, that is carried on men's backs. a1843Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. IV. 563 [The] Irish custom of horsing a girl, and then hurling for her, that the winner may marry her.
b. To elevate on a man's back, in order to be flogged; hence, to flog.
1563–87Foxe A. & M. (1596) 81 (R.) The capteine commanded the child to be horsed up and scourged. 1647Needham Levellers Lev. 13 Ile make the House of Lords horse one another, while I doe lash their Buttocks. 1767H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1859) I. 232 (D.) Andrew was ordered to horse, and Frank to flog the criminal. 1822New Monthly Mag. V. 462 A judicious teacher, when he is compelled to punish a wicked boy, horses him (as the phrase is) on the back of a dunce. a1863Thackeray Fatal Boots ii, The biggest boy..horsed me—and I was flogged.
†5. Naut. Of a current, tide, etc.: To carry with force (a ship or its crew). Obs.
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 184 The Tides horsed us to the Northward. 1726G. Roberts 4 Years Voy. 143 A strong Lee Current, which we perceiv'd to horse us down to Leeward apace. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 298 We were in eminent danger of being horsed by the current upon two rocks.
6. Of a stallion: To cover (a mare).
c1420[see horsed 3]. 1530Palsgr. 588/1 Your genet hath horsed my mare. 1605A. Willet Genesis 319 The fashion is in Spaine to set before the mares, when they are horsed, the most goodly beasts. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 209 Mares, which they would not have horsed.
7. To set astride, bestride. rare.
1607Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 227 Windowes are smother'd vp, Leades fill'd, and Ridges hors'd With variable Complexions.
8. Naut. To drive or urge at work unfairly or tyrannically; also (workmen's slang), ‘to work to death’, to out-work.
1867All Year Round 13 July 59 (Farmer) To horse a man, is for one of two men who are engaged on precisely similar pieces of work to make extraordinary exertions in order to work down the other man.
9. Hop-growing. (See quot.)
1887Kent. Gloss., Horse, to tie the upper branches of the hop-plant to the pole.
†10. horse away: to spend in a lottery. Obs. See horse n. 10 a.
1731Fielding Lottery Prol., Should we behold poor wretches horse away The labour of a twelvemonth in a day.
11. horse up: to drive (oakum) between the planks of a ship.
c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 125 Horse iron, an iron fixed in a handle, and used with a beetle by caulkers, to horse-up or harden in the oakum.
12. horse it: to charge for work before it is done: cf. horse n. 14 and 19.
1857N. & Q. 2nd Ser. IV. 192/1 A workman ‘horses it’ when he charges for more work than he has really done.
13. a. To make fun of, to ‘rag’, to ridicule; to indulge in horseplay; to fool about or around. orig. U.S.
1901Munsey's Mag. XXV. 407/1 Because we chose to chew his statements and remove the bones before we swallowed them, he developed the idea that we had no interest in the work and were trying to ‘horse’ him. 1901F. H. Spearman Held for Orders 173 ‘Are you horsing me?’ he exclaimed, raising his voice angrily. 1928P. Buranelli et al. Cryptogram Bk. p. i, Always playing jokes on each other, they began to ‘horse’ each other cryptographically. 1928Amer. Speech III. 219 Horse around, to indulge in ill-timed trifling or horse-play. 1939R. Chandler Trouble is my Business (1950) 8 Quit horsing around. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 2 May 15 Why must you continually horse around, Ginger? 1952W. G. Hardy Unfulfilled 48 Peter horsed around and ducked Elise and she ducked him. 1954‘W. Henry’ Death of Legend 32 Dingus was really mad about it; he wasn't just horsing now. 1959E. Allen Man who chose Death v. 49 You saw scores like him..laughing and horseing with the pretty..young Italian girls. 1959Punch 10 June 776/2 The professor thought I was horsing about and came down to me. 1961Wodehouse Ice in Bedroom vi. 47 When you've cleaned up pretty good, you don't want to be horsing around down in the suburbs. 1961J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) xxxii. 340 They were having a whale of a good time as they helped each other set up their cots. They were horsing around. 1971It 2–16 June 7/1 Two black kids..were horsing around just outside the club.
b. To philander; to ‘sleep around’.
1952S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) ii. 32 It isn't as if I didn't love her. I'd die for her. Literally. Then why do I have to go horsing around with dames? 1956S. Longstreet Real Jazz 67 ‘This is a respectable band,’ he said, ‘and there ain't goin' to be any immoral horsin' goin' on. Whoever you start sleepin' with this trip, that's how you end the tour!’ 1956C. Smith Deadly Reaper xxv. 201 She'd be horsing around with Nicky, giving me grounds for divorce.
▪ III. horse
obs. f. hoarse; erron. f. hause. |