horse 
a, a, Flemish Horse. 
and dragoons. () The cavalry and infantry that is, the 
whole army : as, they were routed, horse, foot, and dra- 
goons. Hence (b) As used adverbially, indiscriminately ; 
without favor. 
She played at pharaoh two or three times at Princess 
Craon's, where she cheats horse and foot. 
Walpole, Letters (1740), I. 87. 
I made a dangerous thrust at him, and violently over- 
threw him horse and foot. Oriiti the Collier, iv. 
Horse night-cap. See night-cap. Iron horse, a loco- 
motive engine. Master of the horse. See master. 
Salt horse. See talthome. The age of a horse. See 
age- To change a horse. See change. To chant a 
horse. See chant. To flog a dead horse, to try to 
revive interest in a worn-out topic. To hitch horses. 
See hitch. to horse, (at) On horseback ; mounted. 
Whan the gomes of grece were alle to home, 
Araied wel redi, of romayns to rekkene the numbre, 
Treuli twentl thousand, a-tlred atte best. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1947. 
(b) Take horse ; mount : used absolutely, as a signal or 
command. 
To horse, to horse ! urge doubts to them that fear. 
Shale., Rich II., Ii. 1. 
"To horse," 
Said Ida; "home I to horse.'" 
Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
To mount or ride the high horse, to be or get on 
one's high horse, to assume a lofty tone or manner; 
act or speak loftily, as from offended dignity, or from 
pedantry or ostentation ; prance or show off. 
Rooster forsooth must riile the high horse now he is mar- 
ried and lives at Chanticlere. Thackeray, Newcomes, Ivli. 
Now ditmmmted from her high horse and sitting confi- 
dentially down close to her visitor. 
TroUope, Uarchester Towers, xxvi. 
He mounted the classic high horse, and modeled him- 
self on Demosthenes and Cicero. 
C. F. Adams, Jr., A College Fetich, p. 24. 
It rarely happens that what Is called a popular success 
[in literature] is achieved by such delicate means, with 
so little forcing of the tone or niaunting of the high horse. 
N. A. Rev., CXX. 208. 
To nick a horse's tail. See nick. To pay for a dead 
horse, to pay for something that has been lost or consumed, 
or from which one has received or will receive no benefit 
as if for a horse that has died before being paid for. To 
pull the dead horse, to work for wages already paid. 
[Trade slang.] To put the cart before the horse. 
See cart. To take horse, (a) To mount for a ride on 
horseback. 
They summon'd up their meiny, straight took horse, 
Commanded me to follow. Shak., Lear, ii. 4. 
(b) To be covered, as a mare, (c) In mining, to divide 
into branches for a distance; said of a vein. Winged 
horse. See Pegana. 
horse 1 (hors), r.; pret. and pp. horsed, ppr. hors- 
ing. [< ME. horsen, set on horseback; < horse, 
.] I. trans. 1. To provide with a horse ; sup- 
ply horses for, as a body of cavalry, etc. 
The duke was horsede agayne, 
He prikked faste in the playne. 
.MS. Lincoln, A. i. 17, f. 134. (HallimU.) 
The Crimme Tartar . . . came out of his owne coun- 
trey, . . . accompanied with a great number of his nobil- 
itie well horsed. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 469. 
I can see nothing but people better horsed than myself, 
that out-ride me. Beau, and Fl., Philaster, iv. 3. 
Our Maron fa guide or conductor] of Turin, who horsed 
our company from Lyons to Turin. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 92. 
2. To sit astride ; bestride. [Rare.] 
Stalls, bulks, windows, 
Are smother'd up, leads tlll'd, and ridges hors'd 
With variable complexions ; all agreeing 
In earnestness to see him. Shak., Cor., U. 1. 
3. To cover: said of the male. 4. To mount 
or place on or as on the back of a horse ; set 
on horseback; hence, to take on one's own 
back. [Rare.] 
Not his [the orator's] will, but the principle on which 
he is horsed, . . . thunders in the ear of the crowd. 
Emereon, Art. 
5. To mount on another's back preparatory to 
flogging. [Eng.] 
The capteine commanded the child to be honed up and 
scourged. F axe, Martyrs, p. 81. 
A naughty boy ready horsed for discipline. Swift. 
6. Naut., to "ride "hard; drive or urge at work 
unfairly or tyrannically: as, to horse a ship's 
crew. 7. To make out or learn by means of a 
2890 
translation or other extrinsic aid: as, to horse 
a lesson in Virgil. [School and college slang.] 
To horse a bill, to try to get pay for work not yet done. 
[Printers' slang. J To horse on, to drive on ; push, as a 
person or work. [Slang, Eng.] 
II. intrans. 1. To get on horseback ; mount 
or ride on a horse. [Now rare.] 
There was horfing, horsing in haste. 
Archie of Ca'field (Child s Ballads, VI. 90). 
Up early, and my father and I alone talked about our 
business, and then we all horsed away to Cambridge. 
Pepys, Diary, Sept. 19, 1661. 
2. To charge for work before it is executed. 
[Trade slang, Eng.] 3. In calking, to embed 
firmly in the seams of a ship, as oakum, with 
a horsing-iron and a mallet : often with up. 
horse 2 t, . An obsolete form of hoarse. Chaucer. 
horse-aloes (hdrs'al'oz), . See fetid aloes, un- 
der aloes. 
horse-ant (hdrs'ant), n. The common red ant, 
formica rufa. 
horse-arm (hdrs'arm), n. In mining, the part 
of the horse-whim to which horses are attached. 
horse-armor (hors'ar'mqr), n. Armor for the 
protection of a horse in battle. See Sard 2 . 
horse-artillery (h6rs'ar-til"e-ri), n. See artil- 
lery Horse-artillery gun. See gun*. 
horseback (hdrs'bak), n. [< ME. horseback, 
horsbak (= Icel. hrossbak); < horse 1 + back 1 .] 
1. The back of a horse, particularly that part 
of the back on which the rider sits : used gen- 
erally in the phrase on horseback, often abbre- 
viated to horseback, and used adverbially. 
That euery brother schal be in his liuere for that sere 
on h<irs-lKic at certeyn place, be oure and time assigned. 
Engluh Oild* (E. E. T. S.), p. 447. 
I ... saw them salute on horseback. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., L 1. 
2. A low and somewhat sharp ridge of sand 
or gravel ; also, but not generally, a ridge of 
rock which rises for a short distance with a 
sharp edge: a common term in New England, 
especially in Maine. Also called hogback, hog's- 
back, and boar's-back. Such ridges are called by 
Scotch geologists kames, by the Irish eskars. 
horseback (hdrs'bak), adv. On the back of a 
horse : as, to ride horseback. See horseback, n.,1. 
horse-balm (hors'bam), n. A strong-scented 
labiate plant of the American genus Collinsonia, 
having large leaves and yellowish flowers, c. 
Canadensiz, the best-known species, also known as the 
rich lived or stonrroot, is used in infusion as a diuretic, and 
its leaves are applied to wounds and bruises. 
horse-bane (hors'ban), . A poisonous umbel- 
liferous plant, (Enanthe Phellantlrium, a native 
of temperate Europe and Russian Asia : so call- 
ed from its being supposed to cause a kind of 
palsy in horses. 
horse-bean (hdrs'ben), w. A sort of bean so 
called from being fed to horses, or from its 
large size. The Jamaica horse-bean is Cana- 
valia gludiata, having large legumes. 
horse-beech (hors'bech), n. Same as hurst- 
beech. 
horse-blob (hdrs'blob), n. The marsh-mari- 
gold, Caltha palustris. [Scotch.] 
The yellow horse-blob's early flower. 
Clare, Village Minstrel, L 49. 
horse-block (hors'blok), n. 1. A block or stage 
on which one steps in mounting or dismount- 
ing from a horse. 
A horse-block with a flight of steps attached was brought, 
and placed in position for the visitor's descent. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 243. 
2. A square frame of strong boards employed 
by excavators to elevate the ends of their wheel- 
ing-planks. 3. In shijt-building, a grating or 
platform elevated above the deck of a ship at 
the height of the rail, for the use 
of the officers of the deck. 
horse-boat (hors'bot), n. A boat 
moved by a horse or horses; spe- 
cifically, a ferry-boat propelled by 
horses working in a treadmill. 
horse-boot (hdrs'bot), n. A lea- 
ther covering for the hoof and 
pastern of a horse, designed to 
guard them against over-reaching 
or interfering. 
horse-bot (hors'bot), . The lar- 
va of the horse bot-fly, Gastero- 
philus equi. See bot 1 , and cut un- 
der bot-fly. 
horse-box (h6rs'boks), w. 1. A Horee.boot. 
closed car for transporting horses 
by rail. 2. An inclosure for horses in a vessel. 
horse-boy (hors'boi), . A boy employed in 
grooming and tending horses ; a stable-boy. 
horse-coursing 
Having bene once brought up an idle horse-boy, he will 
never after fall to laboure, but is onely made fltt for the 
halter. Spenser, State of Ireland. 
horse-bramble (hors'bram'bl), n. A brier; a 
wild rose. [Prov. Eng.] 
horse-breadt (hors'bred), n. [< ME. horsbrede; 
< horse 1 + braid'.] Provender for horses pre- 
pared in the form of loaves ; any kind of coarse 
bread fed to horses. 
That no hosteller make horse bread in his hostry nor 
without, but bakers shall make it. 
English Qild (E. E. T. S.), p. 366. 
Save this piece of dry horse-bread, chave byt no byt this 
lyvelonge dale. Up. Still, Gammer Gurton's f<eedle. 
The foode which I and others did eat was very blacke, 
far worse then Uorte-ureade. 
Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 20. 
You thread-bare, hortte-bread-eating rascals ! 
B. .1 n "n. Every Man out of his Humour, iii. 2. 
horse-breaker (hors'bra"ker), n. One whose 
employment is to break or train horses. 
horse-brier (hors 'briber), n. The common 
greenbrier or cat-brier, Smilax rotundifolia. 
horse-cadger (hors'kaj'er), n. A knavish deal- 
er in horses. 
A combination of a Yorkshire horse-cadger and a White- 
chapel bully might furnish some psychological parallel. 
H estminster Kev., C&XV. 380. 
horse-cane (hdrs'kan), n. A tall coarse Amer- 
ican composite plant, Ambrosia trifida,the great 
ragweed. See ragweed. 
horse-capper (hdrs'kap*'er), n. A swindler who 
sells a worthless horse for a good price. [Cant.] 
horse-car (hors ' kar), . 1 . A railroad-car fitted 
for the transportation of horses. 2. A street- 
car drawn by horses. [U. S.] 
horse-cassia (hors'kash'ia), n. A leguminous 
tree, Cassia marginata, bearing long pods which 
contain a black cathartic pulp, used in Hindu- 
stan as a medicine for horses. The tree is nat- 
uralized in Jamaica. 
horse-chanter (hdrs'chan'ter), n. See chan- 
ter 1 , 3. 
horse-charget, [ME. horsecharche; < horse 1 
+ charge.] A horse-load. 
horse-chestnut (hors'ches'nut), n. [So called, 
it is said, because formerly ground as food for 
horses ; but this is appar. a mere guess. Horse 
occurs in many other plant-names, in some 
without obvious reason ; in this case it may be 
meant to convey the notion of 'large.'] 1. A 
dicotyledonous-leafed tree of the genus JEstcu- 
lus. Ji. Hippocastanum, a large and highly ornamental 
tree, a native originally of Asia, was introduced into Eu- 
rope about the middle of the sixteenth century. 1 he na- 
tive American species of the same genus are commonly 
called buckeye. The fruit of the horse-chestnut resembles 
the chestnut, but is coarse and bitter. See ^Esculus and 
buckeye. 
2. The nut or fruit of the horse-chestnut. 3. 
In entom., a geometrid moth, Pachycnemia hip- 
pocastanaria : an English collectors' name. 
horse-clipper ( hors' klip ''er), w. A form of 
shears for clipping the coats of horses, in which 
a pair of serrated knives move over each other. 
See cut under clipping-shears. 
horse-cloth (hors'kldth), n. A cloth used to 
cover a horse, or as a part of its trappings. 
The furniture and the horsc-cloaths will be all your own 
device for the wedding, and the horses, when and where 
you please. Steele, Lying Lover, ii. 1. 
horse-collar (hors'koKar), n. A collar, com- 
monly made of leather stuffed with hay or 
straw, and having creases to receive the names, 
placed over a horse's neck and against the shoul- 
der, to bear against in pulling. See cut under 
horse-coltt, n. [ME.] A colt. 
As an horse-colt he shalbe dryue. 
H'yclif, Ecclus. Mill. 30. 
horse-coper, horse-couper (h6rs'ko"per, -kou*- 
per), n. A horse-dealer. [Scotch.] 
We were told there were not less than an hundred jock- 
eys or horge-kopers, as they call them there, from London, 
to buy horses for sale. 
Defoe, Tour through Great Britain, II. 387. 
Some turned horse-coopers, some pedlers. 
Colvil, Mock Poem, p. 37. 
horse-COUTSert (hors'kor'ser), H. [< horse 1 + 
courser 2 . In def. 2 associated with courser 1 .'] 
1. A dealer in horses. 
Now they throng, like so many horse-coursers at a fair. 
Fletcher (and another), Fair Maid of the Inn, iii. 
Hee musters together all the Hackneymen and Horse- 
coursers in and about Colman-streete. 
Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, p. 20. 
2. One who runs horses, or kee"ps race-horses. 
horse-COUTSingt (h6rs ' kor * sing), n. Horse- 
dealing or horse-racing. 
