Horse

/hɔːs/ name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.
  • Grammar: horse is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: steed, aardvark, aardwolf, act up.
  • Useful contrasts: ass, asses, burro.
  • Usage evidence: It's lonely in the saddle since the horse died.

How to use "horse"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "horse" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. 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 "horse" 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 "horse" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "horse" 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 "horse" 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 "steed" 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 "horse", 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. 1
    A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work. countable, uncountable

    "A cowboy's greatest friend is his horse."

  2. 2
    Heroin (drug). slang, uncountable

    "Riccio nodded toward a boy across the floor and said, “See that kid? He’s on dope.” The boy was standing against a wall, staring vacantly at the dancers, his face fixed in a gentle, faraway smile. Every few seconds, he would wipe his nose with the back of his hand. “Man, that Jo-Jo!” Benny said. “He’s stoned all the time.” “What’s he on—horse? Riccio asked, meaning heroin. “Who knows with that creep?” Benny said. I asked Benny if any special kind of boy went in for dope. “The creeps,” he said. “You know, the goofballs.” He searched for a word. “The weak kids. Like Jo-Jo. There ain’t nothing the guys can’t do to him. Last week, we took his pants off and made him run right in the middle of the street without them.”"

  3. 3
    A poker variant consisting of five different poker variants, with the rules changing from one variant to the next after every hand. uncountable
  4. 4
    Alternative spelling of horse (“variant of basketball”). alt-of, alternative, uncountable
  5. 5
    solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times wordnet
Show 24 more definitions
  1. 6
    A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.; Any member of the species Equus ferus, including the Przewalski's horse and the extinct Equus ferus ferus. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    a padded gymnastic apparatus on legs wordnet
  3. 8
    A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.; Any current or extinct animal of the family Equidae, including zebras and asses. countable, uncountable

    "These bone features, distinctive in the zebra, are actually present in all horses."

  4. 9
    a chessman shaped to resemble the head of a horse; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa) wordnet
  5. 10
    A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.; Cavalry soldiers (sometimes capitalized when referring to an official category). sometimes, uncountable

    "We should place two units of horse and one of foot on this side of the field."

  6. 11
    a framework for holding wood that is being sawed wordnet
  7. 12
    A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.; A component of certain games.; The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse. countable, informal, uncountable

    "Now just remind me how the horse moves again?"

  8. 13
    troops trained to fight on horseback wordnet
  9. 14
    A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.; A component of certain games.; A xiangqi piece that moves and captures one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally. countable, uncountable
  10. 15
    A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.; A large and sturdy person. countable, slang, uncountable

    "Every linebacker they have is a real horse."

  11. 16
    A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.; A timber frame shaped like a horse, which soldiers were made to ride for punishment. countable, historical, uncountable
  12. 17
    Equipment with legs.; 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. countable, uncountable

    "She's scored very highly with the parallel bars; let's see how she does with the horse."

  13. 18
    Equipment with legs.; A frame with legs, used to support something. countable, uncountable

    "a clothes horse; a sawhorse"

  14. 19
    A type of equipment.; A rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope. countable, uncountable

    "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"

  15. 20
    A type of equipment.; A breastband for a leadsman. countable, uncountable
  16. 21
    A type of equipment.; An iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon. countable, uncountable
  17. 22
    A type of equipment.; A jackstay. countable, uncountable

    "But in all the wild tumult he noticed, and never forgot, the wicked, set little eye—something like a circus elephant's eye—of a whale that drove along almost level with the water, and, so he said, winked at him. Three boats found their rodings fouled by these reckless mid-sea hunters, and were towed half a mile ere their horses shook the line free."

  18. 23
    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. countable, uncountable
  19. 24
    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 WikipediaWikipedia). US, countable, uncountable
  20. 25
    The flesh of a horse as an item of cuisine. uncountable

    "She said: "I'm starved. I could eat a horse." I told her she was lying, because I had once eaten horse."

  21. 26
    A prison guard who smuggles contraband in or out for prisoners. countable, slang, uncountable

    "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 […]"

  22. 27
    A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination. countable, dated, slang, uncountable
  23. 28
    Horseplay; tomfoolery. countable, dated, slang, uncountable
  24. 29
    A player who has been staked, i.e. another player has paid for their buy-in and claims a percentage of any winnings. countable, slang, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    Synonym of horse around. intransitive

    ""Stop horsing, and guess how many kids!""

  2. 2
    provide with a horse or horses wordnet
  3. 3
    To play mischievous pranks on. transitive

    "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[…]"

  4. 4
    To provide with a horse; supply horses for. transitive

    "being better horsed, outrode me"

  5. 5
    To get on horseback. obsolete

    "He horsed himself well."

Show 10 more definitions
  1. 6
    To sit astride of; to bestride.

    "Stalls, bulks, windows / Are smothered up, leads filled, and ridges horsed / With variable complexions, all agreeing / In earnestness to see him."

  2. 7
    To copulate with (a mare).
  3. 8
    To take or carry on the back.

    "keepers, horsing the deer"

  4. 9
    To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.

    "So they brought him out and horsed him upon the back of Planter George, and whipped him until he fell quivering in the dust."

  5. 10
    To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, chair, etc., to be flogged or punished.; To flog. broadly

    "[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."

  6. 11
    To pull, haul, or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would. transitive

    "[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."

  7. 12
    To cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume. informal

    "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.'"

  8. 13
    To urge at work tyrannically. dated, transitive
  9. 14
    To charge for work before it is finished. dated, intransitive
  10. 15
    To cheat at schoolwork by means of a translation or other illegitimate aid. dated, slang
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The seventh of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.

Synonyms

All synonyms
steedaardvarkaardwolfact upal borakalcohol

Example

"It's lonely in the saddle since the horse died."

Common questions

What does "horse" mean?

A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.

What is a synonym for "horse"?

Common synonyms include: steed, aardvark, aardwolf, act up, al borak, alcohol.

How do you use "horse" in a sentence?

It's lonely in the saddle since the horse died.

How do you pronounce "horse"?

Pronounced /hɔːs/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English horse, hors, from Old English hors (“horse”), from Proto-West Germanic *hors, *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hrussą (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of car and carrus. Cognates Cognate with Scots horse (“horse”), West Frisian hoars (“horse”), Cimbrian ross (“horse”), Dutch hors, ros (“horse”), German Ross, Roß (“horse”), Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk hors (“horse, mare”), Faroese hors, ross (“horse”), Icelandic hross (“horse”), Swedish russ (“horse”).

Etymology 2

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).

Etymology 3

Unknown; probably originally criminals' cant based on the initial letter of heroin and horse.

Etymology 4

Initialism of Texas hold 'em, Omaha eight or better, razz, seven-card stud, and seven card stud eight or better.

More for "horse"

Synonyms

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