What does "colt" mean?
A young male horse.
Colt
/koʊlt/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A young male horse.
- Grammar: colt is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: apprentice, beginner, birdling, boot.
- Useful contrasts: adult horse, expert, fillies.
- Usage evidence: The wildest colt makes the best horse.
How to use "colt"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "colt" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "colt" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "colt" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "colt" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "colt" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "apprentice" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "colt", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A young male horse.
"The petty vices of boys are like the innocent kicks of colts, as yet imperfectly broken."
- 2 A revolver (gun) (from Colt's Manufacturing Company), associated especially but not exclusively with the American Wild West.
"Only in it she held a derringer in her hand, not a Colt. But that look of disbelief on Leonard's face could not have been more real."
- 3 a young male horse under the age of four wordnet
- 4 A young crane (bird).
- 5 a kind of revolver wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice. figuratively
"Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but / talk of his horse, and he makes it a great appropriation to / his own good parts that he can shoe him himself."
- 7 A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.; A professional cricketer during his first season. figuratively, slang
"The bowling is more promising in the colts than in the eleven."
- 8 A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.; A person who sits as a juryman for the first time. figuratively, obsolete, slang
- 9 A short piece of rope once used by petty officers as an instrument of punishment. historical
- 10 A weapon formed by slinging a small shot to the end of a somewhat stiff piece of rope. obsolete, slang
- 11 A young camel or donkey.
Verb
- 1 To horse; to get with young. obsolete, transitive
"Never talk on't: / She hath been colted by him."
- 2 To befool. obsolete, transitive
"What a plague mean ye to colt me thus?"
- 3 To frisk or frolic like a colt; to act licentiously or wantonly. intransitive
"They shook off their bridles and began to colt."
- 4 To haze (a new recruit), as by charging a new juryman a "fine" to be spent on alcoholic drink, or by striking the sole of his foot with a board, etc. obsolete, slang, transitive
"We watched our opportunity, seized him, and, laying him across a chest, we colted him with a boot-jack until we nearly killed him, he at the time suffering from numerous boils in the nates; and for all this he obtained no redress!"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname originating as an occupation. countable, uncountable
- 2 A male given name transferred from the surname. countable, uncountable
"It took two years for Colt and his extended family to find the ideal land on which to spend the rest of their lives."
- 3 A town in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States. countable, uncountable
- 4 An unincorporated community in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. countable, uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"The wildest colt makes the best horse."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "colt"?
Common synonyms include: apprentice, beginner, birdling, boot, boy, brood mare.
How do you use "colt" in a sentence?
The wildest colt makes the best horse.
How do you pronounce "colt"?
Pronounced /koʊlt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English colt, from Old English colt, from Proto-Germanic *kultaz (“plump; stump; thick shape, bulb”), from Proto-Indo-European *gelt- (“something round, pregnant belly, child in the womb”), from *gel- (“to ball up, amass”). Cognate with Faroese koltur (“colt, foal”) Norwegian kult (“treestump”), Swedish kult (“young boar, piglet, boy, lad”) / Swedish kulting (“piglet”). Related to child.
Etymology 2
From colt, as a nickname or occupational name for someone who looked after horses and asses. The given name may also be short for Colton. The revolver is named after American inventor Samuel Colt (1814–1862).