Horses

horse  (hôrs)

n.

1.

a. A large hoofed mammal (Equus caballus) having a short-haired coat, a long mane, and a long tail, domesticated since ancient times and used for riding and for drawing or carrying loads.

b. An adult male horse; a stallion.

c. Any of various equine mammals, such as the wild Asian species E. przewalskii or certain extinct forms related ancestrally to the modern horse.

2. A frame or device, usually with four legs, used for supporting or holding.

3. Sports A vaulting horse.

4. Slang Heroin.

5. Horsepower. Often used in the plural.

6. Mounted soldiers; cavalry: a squadron of horse.

7. Geology

a. A block of rock interrupting a vein and containing no minerals.

b. A large block of displaced rock that is caught along a fault.

v. horsed, hors·ing, hors·es

v.tr.

1. To provide with a horse.

2. To haul or hoist energetically: "Things had changed little since the days of the pyramids, with building materials being horsed into place by muscle power" (Henry Allen).

v.intr.

To be in heat. Used of a mare.

adj.

1. Of or relating to a horse: a horse blanket.

2. Mounted on horses: horse guards.

3. Drawn or operated by a horse.

4. Larger or cruder than others that are similar: horse pills.

Phrasal Verb:

horse around Informal

To indulge in horseplay or frivolous activity: Stop horsing around and get to work.

Idioms:

a horse of another/a different color

Another matter entirely; something else.

beat/flog a dead horse

1. To continue to pursue a cause that has no hope of success.

2. To dwell tiresomely on a matter that has already been decided.

be/get on (one's) high horse

To be or become disdainful, superior, or conceited.

hold (one's) horses

To restrain oneself.

the horse's mouth

A source of information regarded as original or unimpeachable.

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[Middle English, from Old English hors.]

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Horses

See also animals.

dressage

the training of horses in obedience and the execution of precise movements.

equestrianism

1. the art of horsemanship.
2. the practice of this art. — equestrian, equestrienne, n. — equestrian, adj.

equitation

the art or act of riding on horseback; horsemanship.

hippiatrics

1. the study and treatment of diseases of horses.
2. a work on the diseases of horses. Also hippiatry. — hippiatrist, n. — hippia-tric, adj.

hippodrome

Ancient Greece and Rome. an arena for horse races.

hippology

the study of horses.

hippomancy

a form of divination involving the observation of horses, especially by listening to their neighing.

hippomania

a mama for horses.

hippopathology

the study and treatment of the diseases of the horse.

hippophile

a lover of horses.

hippophobia

an abnormal fear of horses.

leucippotomy

the sculpting of white horses on hillsides by cutting away grass and earth to reveal underlying stone or chalk deposits, thought to be a sym-bol of Odin, as near Uffington, England.

manège, manege

1. the art and practice of horsemanship.
2. the special paces taught to a horse in training.
3. the school or academy where they are taught.