Search for: Horses
7121 Etymology dictionary, p. hobby (n.).2
… , active horse," short for hobyn (mid-14c.; late 13c. in Anglo-Latin), probably originally a proper name for a horse (compare dobbin ), a diminutive of Robert or Robin …
7122 Etymology dictionary, p. hobby (n.).3
… "morris horse" sense (1760) and the "child's toy horse" sense (1680s).
7123 Etymology dictionary, p. hobble (v.).2
… hobby-horse; stutter, stammer" (which, however, is not recorded before late 15c.). Or perhaps a variant frequentative of hop (v.).
7124 Etymology dictionary, p. hobbyhorse (n.).2
… hobby-horse, 1550s, "mock horse used in the morris-dance;" 1580s, "child's toy riding horse," from hobby (n.) + horse (n.). Transferred sense of "favorite pastime or avocation …
7125 Etymology dictionary, p. hobbyhorse (n.).3
… "Tourney Horse," a wooden or basketwork frame worn around the waist and held on with shoulder straps, with a fake tail and horse head attached, so the wearer appears …
7126 Etymology dictionary, p. Hobson's choice (n.).2
… let horses and gave customers a choice of the horse next in line or none at all. Phrase popularized c. 1660 by Milton, who was at Cambridge from 1625-29.
7127 Etymology dictionary, p. hock (n.1).2
… a horse or other quadruped," corresponding to the ankle-joint in man, mid-15c., earlier hockshin (late 14c.), from Old English hohsinu "sinew of the heel, Achilles …
7128 Etymology dictionary, p. hog (n.).2
… for "horse older than one year," suggesting the original sense had to do with age, not type of animal. Possibility of British Celtic origin [Watkins, etc.] is regarded …
7129 Etymology dictionary, p. hog (v.).2
… a horse's mane short" (so it bristles like a hog's back), 1769. Related: Hogged; hogging .
7130 Etymology dictionary, p. hold (v.).5
… (one's) horses "be patient" is from 1842, American English; the notion is of keeping a tight grip on the reins. To have and to hold have been paired alliteratively …
7131 Etymology dictionary, p. home (n.).3
… from horse racing (see stretch (n.)). Home economics as a school course first attested 1899; the phrase itself by 1879 (as "household management" is the original …
7132 Etymology dictionary, p. hoopla.2
also hoop-la, 1877, hoop la, American English, earlier houp-la, exclamation accompanying quick movement (1870), of unknown origin, perhaps borrowed from French houp-là "upsy-daisy," also a cry to dogs, horses, etc. (see whoop ).
7133 Etymology dictionary, p. horse (n.).1
horse (n.)
7134 Etymology dictionary, p. horse (n.).2
… hors "horse," from Proto-Germanic *harss- (source also of Old Norse hross, Old Frisian, Old Saxon hors, Middle Dutch ors, Dutch ros, Old High German hros, German Roß …
7135 Etymology dictionary, p. horse (n.).3
… singular horse as well as horses, in Middle English also sometimes horsen, but horses has been the usual plural since 17c.
7136 Etymology dictionary, p. horse (n.).4
… a horse that was foaled of an acorn (1670s) was through early 19c. a way to say "be hanged from the gallows." Horse latitudes first attested 1777, the name of unknown …
7137 Etymology dictionary, p. horse (n.).5
… . The horse's mouth as a source of reliable information is from 1921, perhaps originally of racetrack tips, from the fact that a horse's age can be determined …
7138 Etymology dictionary, p. horse (v.).1
horse (v.)
7139 Etymology dictionary, p. horse (v.).2
… a horse or horses," from horse (n.). Related: Horsed; horsing. Sense of "to play excessive jokes on" is by 1893, mostly in formation horse around (1928), perhaps from horse …
7140 Etymology dictionary, p. horse (v.).3
As a verb, horse also meant "to mount on horseback" (early 14c., horsen ), "to spank" as one does a horse to get it to go (1825), also "to copulate, mount" (as a stallion does a mare), hence figuratively, of men, "copulate with" a woman (mid-15c.).