seahorsen.
1.
a. The walrus. [Compare horse-whale , horse n. Compounds 2b]
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Pinnipedia (seal, sea lion, or walrus) > [noun] > family Odobenidae (walrus)
morse1482
seahorse?a1500
rosmarine1590
horse-whale1598
sea-elephant1601
sea-ox1613
sea-morse1631
sea-cow1668
walrus1728
walrus calf1896
?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 765/2 [Nomina piscium marinorum] Hoc rosina, a sehors.
1584 King James VI & I Ess. Prentise Poesie sig. Biij Daulphins, Seahorse, Selchs with oxin ee, And Merswynis, Pertrikis als of fishes race.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 748 (note) Some call the Morse a Sea horse.
a1682 Sir T. Browne Of Greenland in Wks. (1835) IV. 375 The stomachs of sea horses or morses.
1877 W. Jones Finger-ring Lore 148 A ring made of a sea-horse's tooth.
b. By extension apparently applied to the narwhal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Odontoceti > [noun] > family Monodontidae > genus Monodon (narwhal)
monoceros1590
sea-unicorn1646
narwhal1650
unicorn whale1668
seahorse1674
unicorn-fish1688
unicorn1694
monodon1752
unicorn narwhal1813
unie1874
sea-monoceros-
1674 tr. P. M. de la Martinière New Voy. Northern Countries 115 The Horn of this Sea-horse, was full ten foot long,..wreathed..tapering.
2. A fabulous horse-like marine animal.As represented in heraldry (and formerly in pageants) it has the foreparts of a horse and the tail of a fish, like the steeds (equi bipedes, Verg. Georg. iv. 389) drawing the chariots of Neptune and Proteus as depicted in ancient paintings.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > mythical creature or object > [noun] > horse-like marine creature
seahorse1587
hippocampus1606
hippocamp1616
hippodame1623
1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1340/1 Before the which [sc. the mint] there was a huge and monstrous sea-horsse of twentie foot high.
1648 R. Herrick Hesperides sig. C8 That dares bestride The active Sea-horse, &..Through that huge field of waters ride.
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 111 Neptune sounding with his trumpet, his charriot drawne by sea-horses.
1762 Ann. Reg. 1761 238 The fishmongers pageants consisted of..two mairmaids and two Sea-horses.
1780 J. Edmondson Compl. Body Heraldry II. (Gloss.) Sea-Horse, the upper part is formed like a horse, with webbed feet, and the hinder part ends in a fish's tail.
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule i. 17 The black sea-horse that had been seen in Loch Suainabhal.
1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 559/1 at Poseidon Sometimes he was represented riding a bull, a horse, or a sea-horse.
3.
a. = hippocampus n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Gasterosteiformes (sticklebacks) > [noun] > family Syngnathidae (pipe-fish) > Hippocampus (sea-horse)
hippocampus1576
seahorse1589
horse-fish1723
sea-beaver1755
1589 J. Rider Bibliotheca Scholastica 1723 A sea horse, hippocampa.
1721 R. Bradley Philos. Acct. Wks. Nature 69 Fig. 111. The Shell-Fish call'd the Sea-Horse, found upon the Coast of Italy.
1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands ii. ix. 213 The curious little sea horse (hippocampus brevirostris).
b. The acanthopterygian fish Agriopus torvus ( Cent. Dict.). flying or winged seahorse: a fish of the order or sub-order Pegasidæ.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > [noun] > order Pegasiformes or genus Pegasus > member of (sea-moth)
sea-dragona1836
flying or winged seahorse1854
sea-moth1905
1854 A. Adams et al. Man. Nat. Hist. 83 The Pegasi, or Flying Sea-Horses.
1854 A. Adams et al. Man. Nat. Hist. 94 Winged Sea-Horses (Pegasidæ).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > [noun] > group Suiformes (hippos and pigs) > family Hippopotamidae > hippopotamus, amphibiusi, or hippo
hippopotamusa1398
water horsea1398
river horse1583
seahorse1600
sea-ox1600
morse1703
sea-cow1731
hippo1850
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. Introd. 30 The teeth of sea~horses: which creatures are commonly found in the riuers of Nilus, Niger, &c.
1678 J. Dryden All for Love i. 1 Sea-Horses floundring in the slimy mud.
1700 C. Leigh Nat. Hist. Lancs. i. 183 A young Hippopotamus or Sea-Horse.
1759 tr. M. Adanson Voy. Senegal 133 The hippoptami [sic] or sea horses, are common.
5. A large white-crested wave; cf. white horse n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > wave > types of waves > [noun] > white-crested
whitecap1773
white horse1805
seahorse1877
skipper's daughters1888
wave-horse1888
1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Sea-dogs, Sea-hosses, rough waves in the Humber and Trent.
1886 A. Pember Slipping away i Alice's eyes are fixed on the white sea-horses.
Compounds
General attributive (senses 1, 4).
seahorse fat n.
ΚΠ
1765 Ann. Reg. 1764 ii. 12 The whale and the sea horse fat they also boil with roots.
seahorse hide n.
ΚΠ
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. vi. xxix. 144 There may a man have plentie of the Sea-horse hides.
seahorse leather n.
ΚΠ
a1682 Sir T. Browne Extracts from Common Place Bks. in Wks. (1835) IV. 396 A girdle of sea-horse leather.
seahorse oil n.
ΚΠ
1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions I. 507 On this adventure, 22 tons of Sea-horse oil..were obtained.
seahorse skin n.
seahorse tooth n.
ΚΠ
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §964 Rings of Sea-Horse Teeth.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Sea-horse tooth, a name given to the teeth of the walrus, and of the hippopotamus, which yield ivory.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.?a1500