Definition of "horse"

horse¹

/hɔːs/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural horses
1. A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.
  Quotations
  Athelstan Arundel walked home […] , foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
  1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], page 16
  The departure was not unduly prolonged. […] Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity.
  1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest
  1. Any member of the species Equus ferus, including the Przewalski's horse and the extinct Equus ferus ferus.
  2. (zoology) Any current or extinct animal of the family Equidae, including zebras and asses.
  3. (military, sometimes uncountable) Cavalry soldiers (sometimes capitalized when referring to an official category).
  4. A component of certain games.
    (chess, informal) The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.
    (xiangqi) A xiangqi piece that moves and captures one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally.
  5. (slang) A large and sturdy person.
  6. (historical) A timber frame shaped like a horse, which soldiers were made to ride for punishment.
2. Equipment with legs.
  1. 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.
  2. A frame with legs, used to support something.
3. (nautical) Type of equipment.
  1. A rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope.
  2. A breastband for a leadsman.
  3. An iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon.
  4. A jackstay.
    Quotations
    The old “horse” has made way for the “foot-rope", though we still retain the term “Flemish horse" for the short foot-rope at the top-sail yard-arms
    1887, William Clark Russell, A Book for the Hammock
4. (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.
5. (US) An informal variant of basketball in which players match shots made by their opponent(s), each miss adding a letter to the word "horse", with 5 misses spelling the whole word and eliminating a player, until only the winner is left. Also HORSE, H-O-R-S-E or H.O.R.S.E. (see H-O-R-S-E on Wikipedia.Wikipedia ).
6. (uncountable) The flesh of a horse as an item of cuisine.
  Quotations
  She said: "I'm starved. I could eat a horse." I told her she was lying, because I had once eaten horse.
  1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 46
7. (prison slang) A prison guard who smuggles contraband in or out for prisoners.
  Quotations
  This "horse" (a slang term for prison officers who smuggle contraband into the institution) was probably able "to stay in business" for such a long time because he only "packed" for powerful, trustworthy prisoners […]
  1980, Lee Harrington Bowker, Prison Victimization, page 117
8. (dated, slang, among students) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination.
9. (dated, slang, among students) Horseplay; tomfoolery.
10. (poker slang) A player who has been staked, i.e. another player has paid for their buy-in and claims a percentage of any winnings.

horse²

/hɔːs/

verb
third-person singular simple present horses, present participle horsing, simple past and past participle horsed
1. (intransitive) Synonym of horse around
  Quotations
  "Stop horsing, and guess how many kids!"
  1958, Gay Gaer Luce, Cross Your Heart, page 181
  "Why don't we stop horsing and get down to cases, Lou?" Mike Davey growled.
  2019, Frank Kane, Red Hot Ice: A Johnny Liddell Mystery, page 117
2. (transitive) To play mischievous pranks on.
  Quotations
  Was someone horsing her? Was it Josh's idea of a joke? For some moments she sat, plump hands with long pointed pink nails, toying with the envelope. Then she went to the telephone and called […]
  2015 March 7, Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., Palm Beach: A Novel, Rowman & Littlefield, page 106
3. (transitive) To provide with a horse; supply horses for.
  Quotations
  being better horsed, outrode me
  c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
  […] and the same number from Russia for horsing her guns. During peace Turkey has 15,000 regular Cavalry; on mobilisation she should have 21,000, and 4,000 pack animals, without taking the irregular corps into consideration.
  1907, Cavalry Journal
  The result of one night's play was that the man who horsed the party had not one hoof to call his own when the morning's reckoning came to be made.
  1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 303
4. (obsolete) To get on horseback.
  Quotations
  He horsed himself well.
  1888, Rudyard Kipling, Cupid's Arrows
5. To sit astride of; to bestride.
  Quotations
  Stalls, bulks, windows / Are smothered up, leads filled, and ridges horsed / With variable complexions, all agreeing / In earnestness to see him.
  1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i], line 203
6. (of a male horse) To copulate with (a mare).
7. To take or carry on the back.
  Quotations
  keepers, horsing the deer
  c. 1667, Samuel Butler, Characters
8. To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.
  Quotations
  So they brought him out and horsed him upon the back of Planter George, and whipped him until he fell quivering in the dust.
  1963, Charles Harold Nichols, Many Thousand Gone
  Faster than Lei could have believed, Omura blocked the exit, grabbed Kennedy's wrist and twisted it up behind her back, horsing her onto the hard metal chair. She sat the woman on it, slapping on a pair of cuffs.
  2020 April 2, Toby Neal, Paradise Crime Mysteries Books 1-9, Neal Enterprises INC
  1. (by extension) To flog.
    Quotations
    [N]otwithstanding the intercession of his governor, who begged earnestly that his punishment might be mitigated, our unfortunate hero was publickly horsed, in terrorem of all whom it might concern.
    1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […]
9. (transitive) To pull, haul, or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would.
  Quotations
  [A] country-ship from China to Bombay, standing into the strait at noon with a strong tide and scant wind, stood too near Pedro Branco before tacking, and was totally lost, by the tide horsing her upon the rock whilst in stays.
  1836, Hugh Murray, John Crawfurd, Peter Gordon, Thomas Lynn, William Wallace, Gilbert Thomas Burnett, An Historical and Descriptive Account of China, page 216
  Cambria observing this again went about, and tacked towards the island, Sappho followed suit; after a short reach she again tacked and stood for the mark vessel, the tide horsing her well to the westward, but the Cambria stood on […]
  1870, Hunt's Yachting Magazine, page 266
  At 2:30 P.M. two gray-and-yellow tugs began horsing her out of her berth. Backing, she turned to starboard, past the end of the dock. Engine stopped, she carried sternway as her bow swung for the harbor mouth.
  1981, Robert Roderick, The Greek Position: A Novel, Simon & Schuster
10. (informal) To cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume.
  Quotations
  The Spaniards spend generations honing the subtle flavours of their delightful tapas and you're horsing it into your mouth as though it was a fried egg roll with brown sauce.'
  2012 February 2, Anna Smith, To Tell the Truth: Rosie Gilmour 2, Quercus Publishing
  Get your laughing gear around some protein at every meal, spreading your intake over the course of the day rather than horsing it into you all in one go, at one mealtime. If you are training hard, try to consume around 25g protein […]
  2021 January 7, Paul Olima, Fit: Smash your goals and stay strong for life, Simon and Schuster
11. (transitive, dated) To urge at work tyrannically.
12. (intransitive, dated) To charge for work before it is finished.

horse³

/hɔːs/

noun
uncountable
1. (slang) Heroin (drug).
  Quotations
  Check that shirt. I got a couple of jolts of horse stashed under the collar
  1962, Cape Fear, 00:15:20
  It was to remember the juke box, the teasing, the dancing, the hard-on, the gang fights and gang bangs, his first set of drums—bought him by his father—his first taste of marijuana, his first snort of horse.
  1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published 1963 January, page 6

Definition of "horse"

horse1

noun

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horse2

verb

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horse3

noun

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horse¹

horse²

horse³