Search for: Horses
6901 Etymology dictionary, p. bay (adj.).2
… of horses, mid-14c., from Anglo-French bai (13c.), Old French bai, from Latin badius "chestnut-brown" (used only of horses), from PIE root *badyo- "yellow, brown" (source also …
6902 Etymology dictionary, p. bait (v.1).3
… a horse or other domestic beast out to feed or graze," and, of persons, "to eat food," also figuratively "feast the eye" (late 14c.). Compare bait (n.). Related: Baited; baiting …
6903 Etymology dictionary, p. bald (adj.).2
… a horse or other animal (from PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, gleam").
6904 Etymology dictionary, p. balk (v.).2
… a horse confronted with an obstacle) is late 15c.; that of "to refuse" is 1580s. For baseball sense, see the noun. Related: Balked; balking .
6905 Etymology dictionary, p. bangs (n.).2
… of horses ( bang-tail ), perhaps from notion of abruptness (as in bang off "immediately, without delay," though this expression is attested only from 1886). See bang …
6906 Etymology dictionary, p. bareback (adj.).2
also bare-back, "riding or performing on an unsaddled ('bare-backed') horse," 1560s, from bare (adj.) + back (n.).
6907 Etymology dictionary, p. barefoot (adj.).3
… -selling "Horse and Buggy Doctor," about his life as a country doctor in Kansas: "Some vulgar person has said that when the wife is kept barefooted and pregnant …
6908 Etymology dictionary, p. batman (n.).2
… bat-horse and its load," 1755, from bat "pack-saddle" (late 14c.), from Old French bast (Modern French bât ), from Late Latin bastum (see baton ). Hence also batwoman (1941 …
6909 Etymology dictionary, p. Bayard (n.).2
… a horse, mid-14c., from Old French Baiard, name of the bay-colored magic steed given by Charlemagne to Renaud in the legends, from Old French baiart "bay-colored …
6910 Etymology dictionary, p. bean (n.).2
… bathë "horse-bean;" Old Prussian babo, Russian bob "bean," but the original form is obscure. Watkins suggests a PIE reduplicated root *bha-bhā- "broad bean;" de Vaan …
6911 Etymology dictionary, p. bidet (n.).2
1620s, "small horse," from French bidet (16c.), a word of unknown etymology. Originally in French "a small horse, a pony," thus "a vessel on a low narrow stand, which can be bestridden for bathing purposes," a sense attested in English from 1766.
6912 Etymology dictionary, p. bimbo (n.).4
… race horses, dogs, and monkeys, a circus elephant (perhaps echoing jumbo ), and a jester character in a play. It is in the title of a three-act musical farce ("Bimbo …
6913 Etymology dictionary, p. bird (n.1).5
… of horses and cattle. The bird-spider (1800) of the American tropics is a large sort of tarantula that can capture and kill small birds.
6914 Etymology dictionary, p. bit (n.1).2
… a horse's bridle" (mid-14c.), and "a piece (of food) bitten off, morsel" (c. 1000). All from Proto-Germanic *biton (source also of Old Saxon biti, Old Norse bit, Old Frisian bite …
6915 Etymology dictionary, p. blank (adj.).2
… "white horse;" Old High German blanc, blanch; German blank "shining, bright"). This is reconstructed to be from Proto-Germanic *blangkaz "to shine, dazzle," an extended …
6916 Etymology dictionary, p. blanket (n.).2
… for horses), from Old French blanchet "light wool or flannel cloth; an article made of this material," diminutive of blanc "white" (see blank (adj.)), which had a secondary …
6917 Etymology dictionary, p. blaze (n.1).2
… -ros "horse with a white spot," Middle Dutch and Dutch bles, German Blesse "white spot," blass "pale, whitish"), from PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn."
6918 Etymology dictionary, p. blaze (n.2).2
… a horse, cow, etc., a word from northern English dialect, probably from Old Norse blesi "white spot on a horse's face," from Proto-Germanic *blas- "shining, white," from …
6919 Etymology dictionary, p. blinder (n.).2
… for horses (1809), and often figurative. They were said to prevent the horse being startled by peripheral movements and to keep it steady at its work, but many …
6920 Etymology dictionary, p. blinkered (adj.).2
in the figurative sense, 1849, from horses being fitted with blinders to limit the range of their vision (see blinker ).