horse

English

/hɔːs/, /hɔɹs/

noun
Definitions
  • Any of several animals related to Equus ferus caballus.
  • (nautical)
  • (mining) 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.
  • (slang) The sedative, antidepressant, and anxiolytic drug morphine, chiefly when used illicitly.
  • (US) 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 ).
  • (dated) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination.
  • (dated) horseplay; tomfoolery

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English horse inherited from Old English hors (horse) inherited from *hross (horse) inherited from Proto-Germanic *hrussą (horse) inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (vehicle, horse), *ḱers- (run, hurry).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*ḱers-

Gloss

run, hurry

Concept
Semantic Field

Motion

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

Emoji
🎽 🏃 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️ 💨

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms