adv. On horseback. [ 1913 Webster ]

Two suspicious fellows ahorseback. Smollet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. bât packsaddle (cheval de bât packhorse) + E. horse. See Bastard. ] A horse which carries an officer's baggage during a campaign. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Bathorse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a horse kept for pulling carts; a horse bred or used for drawing heavy loads.
Syn. -- drayhorse. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A frame to hang clothes on. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a person who is conspicuous for dressing fashionably, especially one who spends much time or money to acquire clothing. [ PJC ]

n. 1. A child's rocking-horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ride a cockhorse to Banbury cross. Mother Goose. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A high or tall horse. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Lifted up, as one is on a tall horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lofty in feeling; exultant; proud; upstart. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our painted fools and cockhorse peasantry. Marlowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To dismount; to knock (a person) from a horse. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ OE. hobin a nag, OF. hobin hobby; cf. hober to stir, move; prob. of German or Scand. origin; cf. Dan. hoppe a mare, dial. Sw. hoppa; perh. akin to E. hop to jump. ] 1. A strong, active horse, of a middle size, said to have been originally from Ireland; an ambling nag. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A stick, often with the head or figure of a horse, on which boys make believe to ride. [ Usually under the form hobbyhorse. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A subject or plan upon which one is constantly setting off; a favorite and ever-recurring theme of discourse, thought, or effort; that which occupies one's attention unduly, or to the weariness of others; a ruling passion. [ Usually under the form hobby. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not one of them has any hobbyhorse, to use the phrase of Sterne. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. hors; akin to OS. hros, D. & OHG. ros, G. ross, Icel. hross; and perh. to L. currere to run, E. course, current Cf. Walrus. ] 1. (Zool.) A hoofed quadruped of the genus Equus; especially, the domestic horse (Equus caballus), which was domesticated in Egypt and Asia at a very early period. It has six broad molars, on each side of each jaw, with six incisors, and two canine teeth, both above and below. The mares usually have the canine teeth rudimentary or wanting. The horse differs from the true asses, in having a long, flowing mane, and the tail bushy to the base. Unlike the asses it has callosities, or chestnuts, on all its legs. The horse excels in strength, speed, docility, courage, and nobleness of character, and is used for drawing, carrying, bearing a rider, and like purposes. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Many varieties, differing in form, size, color, gait, speed, etc., are known, but all are believed to have been derived from the same original species. It is supposed to have been a native of the plains of Central Asia, but the wild species from which it was derived is not certainly known. The feral horses of America are domestic horses that have run wild; and it is probably true that most of those of Asia have a similar origin. Some of the true wild Asiatic horses do, however, approach the domestic horse in several characteristics.
Several species of fossil (Equus) are known from the later Tertiary formations of Europe and America. The fossil species of other genera of the family Equidæ are also often called horses, in general sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The male of the genus Equus, in distinction from the female or male; usually, a castrated male. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Mounted soldiery; cavalry; -- used without the plural termination; as, a regiment of horse; -- distinguished from foot. [ 1913 Webster ]

The armies were appointed, consisting of twenty-five thousand horse and foot. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A frame with legs, used to support something; as, a clotheshorse, a sawhorse, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A frame of timber, shaped like a horse, on which soldiers were made to ride for punishment. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Anything, actual or figurative, on which one rides as on a horse; a hobby. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mining) A mass of earthy matter, or rock of the same character as the wall rock, occurring in the course of a vein, as of coal or ore; hence, to take horse -- said of a vein -- is to divide into branches for a distance. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Naut.) (a) See Footrope, a. (b) A breastband for a leadsman. (c) An iron bar for a sheet traveler to slide upon. (d) A jackstay. W. C. Russell. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Student Slang) (a) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination; -- called also trot, pony, Dobbin. (b) Horseplay; tomfoolery. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

10. heroin. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

11. horsepower. [ Colloq. contraction ] [ PJC ]

☞ Horse is much used adjectively and in composition to signify of, or having to do with, a horse or horses, like a horse, etc.; as, horse collar, horse dealer or horse&unr_;dealer, horsehoe, horse jockey; and hence, often in the sense of strong, loud, coarse, etc.; as, horselaugh, horse nettle or horse-nettle, horseplay, horse ant, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Black horse,
Blood horse, etc. See under Black, etc. --
Horse aloes, caballine aloes. --
Horse ant (Zool.), a large ant (Formica rufa); -- called also horse emmet. --
Horse artillery, that portion of the artillery in which the cannoneers are mounted, and which usually serves with the cavalry; flying artillery. --
Horse balm (Bot.), a strong-scented labiate plant (Collinsonia Canadensis), having large leaves and yellowish flowers. --
Horse bean (Bot.), a variety of the English or Windsor bean (Faba vulgaris), grown for feeding horses. --
Horse boat, a boat for conveying horses and cattle, or a boat propelled by horses. --
Horse bot. (Zool.) See Botfly, and Bots. --
Horse box, a railroad car for transporting valuable horses, as hunters. [ Eng. ] --
Horse breaker or
Horse trainer, one employed in subduing or training horses for use. --
Horse car. (a) A railroad car drawn by horses. See under Car. (b) A car fitted for transporting horses. --
Horse cassia (Bot.), a leguminous plant (Cassia Javanica), bearing long pods, which contain a black, catharic pulp, much used in the East Indies as a horse medicine. --
Horse cloth, a cloth to cover a horse. --
Horse conch (Zool.), a large, spiral, marine shell of the genus Triton. See Triton. --
Horse courser. (a) One that runs horses, or keeps horses for racing. Johnson. (b) A dealer in horses. [ Obs. ] Wiseman. --
Horse crab (Zool.), the Limulus; -- called also horsefoot, horsehoe crab, and king crab. --
Horse crevallé (Zool.), the cavally. --
Horse emmet (Zool.), the horse ant. --
Horse finch (Zool.), the chaffinch. [ Prov. Eng. ] --
Horse gentian (Bot.), fever root. --
Horse iron (Naut.), a large calking iron. --
Horse latitudes, a space in the North Atlantic famous for calms and baffling winds, being between the westerly winds of higher latitudes and the trade winds. Ham. Nav. Encyc. --
Horse mackrel. (Zool.) (a) The common tunny (Orcynus thunnus), found on the Atlantic coast of Europe and America, and in the Mediterranean. (b) The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix). (c) The scad. (d) The name is locally applied to various other fishes, as the California hake, the black candlefish, the jurel, the bluefish, etc. --
Horse marine (Naut.), an awkward, lubbery person; one of a mythical body of marine cavalry. [ Slang ] --
Horse mussel (Zool.), a large, marine mussel (Modiola modiolus), found on the northern shores of Europe and America. --
Horse nettle (Bot.), a coarse, prickly, American herb, the Solanum Carolinense. --
Horse parsley. (Bot.) See Alexanders. --
Horse purslain (Bot.), a coarse fleshy weed of tropical America (Trianthema monogymnum). --
Horse race, a race by horses; a match of horses in running or trotting. --
Horse racing, the practice of racing with horses. --
Horse railroad, a railroad on which the cars are drawn by horses; -- in England, and sometimes in the United States, called a tramway. --
Horse run (Civil Engin.), a device for drawing loaded wheelbarrows up an inclined plane by horse power. --
Horse sense, strong common sense. [ Colloq. U.S. ] --
Horse soldier, a cavalryman. --
Horse sponge (Zool.), a large, coarse, commercial sponge (Spongia equina). --
Horse stinger (Zool.), a large dragon fly. [ Prov. Eng. ] --
Horse sugar (Bot.), a shrub of the southern part of the United States (Symplocos tinctoria), whose leaves are sweet, and good for fodder. --
Horse tick (Zool.), a winged, dipterous insect (Hippobosca equina), which troubles horses by biting them, and sucking their blood; -- called also horsefly, horse louse, and forest fly. --
Horse vetch (Bot.), a plant of the genus Hippocrepis (Hippocrepis comosa), cultivated for the beauty of its flowers; -- called also horsehoe vetch, from the peculiar shape of its pods. --
Iron horse, a locomotive. [ Colloq. ] --
Salt horse, the sailor's name for salt beef. --
To look a gift horse in the mouth, to examine the mouth of a horse which has been received as a gift, in order to ascertain his age; -- hence, to accept favors in a critical and thankless spirit. Lowell. --
To take horse. (a) To set out on horseback. Macaulay. (b) To be covered, as a mare. (c) See definition 7 (above). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Horsed p. pr. & vb. n. Horsing. ] [ AS. horsion. ] 1. To provide with a horse, or with horses; to mount on, or as on, a horse. “Being better horsed, outrode me.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To sit astride of; to bestride. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To mate with (a mare); -- said of the male. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To take or carry on the back; as, the keeper, horsing a deer. S. Butler. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To place on the back of another, or on a wooden horse, etc., to be flogged; to subject to such punishment. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To get on horseback. [ Obs. ] Shelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The back of a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An extended ridge of sand, gravel, and boulders, in a half-stratified condition. Agassiz. [ 1913 Webster ]

On horseback, on the back of a horse; mounted or riding on a horse or horses; in the saddle. [ 1913 Webster ] The long journey was to be performed on horseback. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The seed of the broad-bean plant.
Syn. -- broad bean, fava bean. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A large shrub or shrubby tree (Parkinsonia aculeata) having sharp spines and pinnate leaves with small deciduous leaflets and sweet-scented racemose yellow-orange flowers; grown as ornamentals or hedging or emergency food for livestock; originating in tropical America but naturalized in the Southern U. S.
Syn. -- Jerusalem thorn, Parkinsonia aculeata. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a conveyance (railroad car or trailer) for transporting racehorses. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a very prickly woody vine (Smilax rotundifolia) of eastern U. S. growing in tangled masses having tough round stems with shiny leathery leaves and small greenish flowers followed by clusters of inedible shiny black berries.
Syn. -- bullbrier, greenbrier, catbrier, brier, briar, Smilax rotundifolia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A heavycart drawn by a horse, used for farm work. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. (Bot.) The large nutlike seed of a species of Aesculus (Aesculus Hippocastanum), formerly ground, and fed to horses, whence the name. The seed is not considered edible by humans. [ wns=2 ] [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Bot.) The tree itself (Aesculus hippocastanum), which was brought from Constantinople in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and is now common in the temperate zones of both hemispheres; it has palmate leaves and large clusters of white to red flowers followed by brown shiny inedible seeds. The native American species is also called buckeye and conker. [ wns=1 ] [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a cloth for the trapping of a horse. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A dose of physic for a horse. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The appliance by which the dose is administered. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) The moonfish (Selene setipinnis). (b) The sauger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The flesh of horses.
Syn. -- horsemeat. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Chinese eat horseflesh at this day. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Horses, generally; the qualities of a horse; as, he is a judge of horseflesh. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Horseflesh ore (Min.), a miner's name for bornite, in allusion to its peculiar reddish color on fresh facture. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Horseflies 1. (Zool.) Any dipterous fly of the family Tabanidae, that stings horses, and sucks their blood. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Of these flies there are numerous species, both in Europe and America. They have a large proboscis with four sharp lancets for piercing the skin. Called also breeze fly. See Illust. under Diptera, and Breeze fly. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The horse tick or forest fly (Hippobosca). [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Horsefeet 1. (Bot.) The coltsfoot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The Limulus or horseshoe crab. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Mil.) A body of cavalry so called; esp., a British regiment, called the Royal Horse Guards, which furnishes guards of state for the sovereign. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Horse Guards, a name given to the former headquarters of the commander in chief of the British army, at Whitehall in London. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hair of a horse, especially one from the mane or tail; the hairs of the mane or tail taken collectively; Specifically: a black shiny fabric made of such hairs, used commonly in the 1800's as a covering for stuffed furniture such as chairs and couches. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Horsehair worm (Zool.), the hair worm or gordius. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The silver moonfish (Selene vomer). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The hide of a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Leather made of the hide of a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A professional rider and trainer of race horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A trainer and dealer in horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) Knapweed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Meteorology) The latitudes from 30° to 35 ° north or south of the equator. They are subtropical latitudes having atmospheric high-pressure belts that encircle the Earth, where winds are light and weather is usually clear, hot and dry. According to legend, ships traveling to the New World often stagnated in this region and had to throw dead horses overboard to conserve water for the crew, or eat them to survive, hence the name horse latitudes. A horse latitude is created because warm, wet air near the equator rises, cools, and drops its moisture in heavy rains (creating tropical rainforest areas near the equator). By the time the air reaches the high altitudes, it is cold and dry and can not rise further, so it spreads out and moves toward the poles and near the 30° north and 30° south, it begins to sink toward the earth's surface., preventing moisture from reaching the area from elsewhere. The regions mark the normal locations of the global subtropical high pressure systems such as the Bermuda High, moving a few degrees north or south of their position as the sun moves in the sky with the seasons. Many of the worlds deserts are found at these latitudes. University of Michigan Eco-Explorers, 2001 [ PJC ]

n. A loud, boisterous laugh; a guffaw. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) A large blood-sucking leech (Hæmopsis vorax), of Europe and Northern Africa. It attacks the lips and mouths of horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A farrier; a veterinary surgeon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The business of a farrier; especially, the art of curing the diseases of horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Being without a horse; specif., not requiring a horse; -- said of certain vehicles in which horse power has been replaced by electricity, steam, etc.; as, a horseless carriage or truck. It was used primarily in the term “horseless carriage”, to refer to automobiles. By the 1930's when automobiles had become more common than horses for transportation, the term had lost its currency. [ archaic, except in a historical context. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. A carriage hung on poles, and borne by and between two horses. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Horsemen 1. A rider on horseback; one skilled in the management of horses; a mounted man. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) A mounted soldier; a cavalryman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) (a) A land crab of the genus Ocypoda, living on the coast of Brazil and the West Indies, noted for running very swiftly. (b) A West Indian fish of the genus Eques, as the light-horseman (Eques lanceolatus). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or art of riding, and of training and managing horses; manege. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The flesh of horses used as food.
Syn. -- horseflesh. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) (a) A coarse American plant of the Mint family (Monarda punctata). (b) In England, the wild mint (Mentha sylvestris). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A thin, pointed nail, with a heavy flaring head, for securing a horsehoe to the hoof; a horsehoe nail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Rude, boisterous play. [ 1913 Webster ]

Too much given to horseplay in his raillery. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A pond for watering horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The power which a horse exerts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mach.) A unit of power, used in stating the power required to drive machinery, and in estimating the capabilities of animals or steam engines and other prime movers for doing work. It is the power required for the performance of work at the rate of 33, 000 English units of work per minute; hence, it is the power that must be exerted in lifting 33, 000 pounds at the rate of one foot per minute, or 550 pounds at the rate of one foot per second, or 55 pounds at the rate of ten feet per second, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The power of a draught horse, of average strength, working eight hours per day, is about four fifths of a standard horse power. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brake horse power, the net effective power of a prime mover, as a steam engine, water wheel, etc., in horse powers, as shown by a friction brake. See Friction brake, under Friction. --
Indicated horse power, the power exerted in the cylinder of an engine, stated in horse powers, estimated from the diameter and speed of the piston, and the mean effective pressure upon it as shown by an indicator. See Indicator. --
Nominal horse power (Steam Engine), a term still sometimes used in England to express certain proportions of cylinder, but having no value as a standard of measurement. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A machine worked by a horse, for driving other machinery; a horse motor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Nasturtium (Nasturtium Armoracia), allied to scurvy grass, having a root of a pungent taste, much used, when grated, as a condiment and in medicine. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Horse-radish tree. (Bot.) See Moringa. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A rake drawn by a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A ludicrously false statement. [ Vulgar slang ]
Syn. -- bullshit, bull, Irish bull, shit, crap, bunk, bunkum, buncombe, guff, rot, hogwash, dogshit. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A shoe for horses, consisting of a narrow plate of iron in form somewhat like the letter U, nailed to a horse's hoof. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything shaped like a horsehoe, such as a U-shaped bend in a river. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) The Limulus or horsehoe crab. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. A game in which horseshoes or horseshoe-shaped objects (usually made of metal) are thrown at either of two stakes fixed in the ground at a distance of 30 to 40 feet apart. The player stands at or near one stake and throws several the horseshoes at the other stake. Points are scored when the player throws the horseshoe so that it surrounds the stake; fewer points are scored if the horseshoe is close to but not surrounding the stake. The players take turns and the first player to achieve the target score wins; as, “almost” only counts with hand grenades or in horseshoes. [ PJC ]

Horsehoe head (Med.), an old name for the condition of the skull in children, in which the sutures are too open, the coronal suture presenting the form of a horsehoe. Dunglison. --
Horsehoe magnet, an artificial magnet in the form of a horsehoe. --
Horsehoe nail. See Horsenail. --
Horsehoe nose (Zool.), a bat of the genus Rhinolophus, having a nasal fold of skin shaped like a horsehoe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or employment of shoeing horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who shoes horses. [ 1913 Webster ]