horse
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: hô(r)s
ipa: /hɔːs/
ipa: /hoɹs/
ipa: [ho̞ɹs]
enpr: hô(r)s
ipa: /hoːs/
ipa: [ho̝ːs]
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)s
homophone: hoarse
note: rhotic
ipa: /hɔːɹs/
note: non-rhotic
ipa: /hɔːs/
other: /hɒrs/
other: /hɒːrs/
Forms: form: horses
form: horsing
form: horsed
form: horsed
form: hoss
form: hawss
Etymology: From Middle English horsen, from Old English horsian (“to horse, provide with horses”) and ġehorsian (“to horse, set or mount on a horse, supply with horses”), from the noun (see above).
Senses: examples: text: "Stop horsing, and guess how many kids!"
ref: 1958, Gay Gaer Luce, Cross Your Heart, page 181:
text: "Why don't we stop horsing and get down to cases, Lou?" Mike Davey growled.
ref: 2019, Frank Kane, Red Hot Ice: A Johnny Liddell Mystery, page 117:
synonyms: word: horse about
word: horse around
word: horse around
glosses: Synonym of horse around.
examples: text: 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[…]
ref: 2015 March 7, Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., Palm Beach: A Novel, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 106:
glosses: To play mischievous pranks on.
examples: text: being better horsed, outrode me
ref: c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: […] 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.
ref: 1907, Cavalry Journal:
text: 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.
ref: 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 303:
glosses: To provide with a horse; supply horses for.
examples: text: He horsed himself well.
ref: 1888, Rudyard Kipling, Cupid's Arrows:
glosses: To get on horseback.
examples: text: Stalls, bulks, windows / Are smothered up, leads filled, and ridges horsed / With variable complexions, all agreeing / In earnestness to see him.
ref: 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, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], line 203:
glosses: To sit astride of; to bestride.
glosses: To copulate with (a mare).
raw_tags: of a male horse
examples: text: keepers, horsing the deer
ref: c. 1667, Samuel Butler, Characters:
glosses: To take or carry on the back.
examples: text: So they brought him out and horsed him upon the back of Planter George, and whipped him until he fell quivering in the dust.
ref: 1963, Charles Harold Nichols, Many Thousand Gone:
text: 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.
ref: 2020 April 2, Toby Neal, Paradise Crime Mysteries Books 1-9, Neal Enterprises INC:
glosses: To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.
examples: text: [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.
ref: 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.
To flog.
examples: text: [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.
ref: 1836, Hugh Murray, John Crawfurd, Peter Gordon, Thomas Lynn, William Wallace, Gilbert Thomas Burnett, An Historical and Descriptive Account of China, page 216:
text: 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[…]
ref: 1870, Hunt's Yachting Magazine, page 266:
text: 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.
ref: 1981, Robert Roderick, The Greek Position: A Novel, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN:
glosses: To pull, haul, or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would.
examples: text: 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.'
ref: 2012 February 2, Anna Smith, To Tell the Truth: Rosie Gilmour 2, Quercus Publishing, →ISBN:
text: 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[…]
ref: 2021 January 7, Paul Olima, Fit: Smash your goals and stay strong for life, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
glosses: To cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume.
glosses: To urge at work tyrannically.
glosses: To charge for work before it is finished.
glosses: To cheat at schoolwork by means of a translation or other illegitimate aid.
Derived terms: horse about
horse around
unhorse