horse
Meanings
- A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.
- Any member of the species Equus ferus, including the Przewalski's horse and the extinct Equus ferus ferus.
- Any current or extinct animal of the family Equidae, including zebras and asses.
- Cavalry soldiers (sometimes capitalized when referring to an official category).
- A component of certain games.
- The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.
- A xiangqi piece that moves and captures one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally.
- A large and sturdy person.
- A timber frame shaped like a horse, which soldiers were made to ride for punishment.
- Equipment with legs.
- In gymnastics, a piece of equipment with a body on two or four legs, approximately four feet high, sometimes (pommel horse) with two handles on top.
- A frame with legs, used to support something.
- Synonym of horse around.
- To play mischievous pranks on.
- To provide with a horse; supply horses for.
- To get on horseback.
- To sit astride of; to bestride.
- To copulate with (a mare).
- To take or carry on the back.
- To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.
- To flog.
- To pull, haul, or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would.
- To cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume.
- To urge at work tyrannically.
- Heroin (drug).
- A poker variant consisting of five different poker variants, with the rules changing from one variant to the next after every hand.
- Alternative form of horse (“a variant of basketball”).
- A surname.
- The seventh of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós? Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers-? Proto-Indo-European *wers- Proto-Indo-European *-ḗn Proto-Indo-European *wérsēn Proto-Indo-Iranian *(w)ŕ̥šā Proto-Iranian *(w)ŕ̥šāder.? Proto-Germanic *hrussą Proto-West Germanic *hross Old English hors Middle English hors English horse From Middle English hors, horse, ors, from Old English hors (“horse”), from Proto-West Germanic *hors, *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hrussą (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of car and carrus. Cognates Cognate with Scots horse (“horse”), West Frisian hoars (“horse”), Cimbrian ross (“horse”), Dutch hors, ros (“horse”), German Ross, Roß (“horse”), Danish and Norwegian Nynorsk hors (“horse, mare”), Faroese hors, ross (“horse”), Icelandic hross (“horse”), Swedish russ (“horse”); also Cornish karr (“car”), Welsh car (“car; cart, wagon”), Latin currus (“car, chariot; wagon, wain”), Ancient Greek ἐπίκουρος (epíkouros, “aiding, assisting; defending; ally, helper; hireling”), Tocharian A kursär (“vehicle; mile”), Tocharian B kwarsär (“course; path”).