Hor"ror-struck` (?), a. Horror- stricken; horrified. M. Arnold.
||Hors` de com`bat" (?). [F.] Out of the combat; disabled from
||fighting.
Horse (hÙrs), n. [AS. hors; akin to OS. hros, D. & OHG. ros, G. ross,
Icel. hross; and perh. to L. currere to run, E. course, current Cf.
Walrus.] 1. (Zoˆl.) A hoofed quadruped of the genus Equus; especially,
the domestic horse (E. caballus), which was domesticated in Egypt and
Asia at a very early period. It has six broad molars, on each side of
each jaw, with six incisors, and two canine teeth, both above and
below. The mares usually have the canine teeth rudimentary or wanting.
The horse differs from the true asses, in having a long, flowing mane,
and the tail bushy to the base. Unlike the asses it has callosities, or
chestnuts, on all its legs. The horse excels in strength, speed,
docility, courage, and nobleness of character, and is used for drawing,
carrying, bearing a rider, and like purposes.
Many varieties, differing in form, size, color, gait, speed, etc., are
known, but all are believed to have been derived from the same original
species. It is supposed to have been a native of the plains of Central
Asia, but the wild species from which it was derived is not certainly
known. The feral horses of America are domestic horses that have run
wild; and it is probably true that most of those of Asia have a similar
origin. Some of the true wild Asiatic horses do, however, approach the
domestic horse in several characteristics. Several species of fossil
(Equus) are known from the later Tertiary formations of Europe and
America. The fossil species of other genera of the family EquidÊ are
also often called horses, in general sense.
2. The male of the genus horse, in distinction from the female or male;
usually, a castrated male.
3. Mounted soldiery; cavalry; -- used without the plural termination;
as, a regiment of horse; -- distinguished from foot.
The armies were appointed, consisting of twenty-five thousand horse
and foot.
Bacon.
4. A frame with legs, used to support something; as, a clotheshorse, a
sawhorse, etc.
5. A frame of timber, shaped like a horse, on which soldiers were made
to ride for punishment.
6. Anything, actual or figurative, on which one rides as on a horse; a
hobby.
7. (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.
8. (Naut.) (a) See Footrope, a. (b) A breastband for a leadsman. (c) An
iron bar for a sheet traveler to slide upon. (d) A jackstay. W. C.
Russell. Totten.
Horse is much used adjectively and in composition to signify of, or
having to do with, a horse or horses, like a horse, etc.; as, horse
collar, horse dealer or horse&?;dealer, horsehoe, horse jockey; and
hence, often in the sense of strong, loud, coarse, etc.; as,
horselaugh, horse nettle or horse-nettle, horseplay, horse ant, etc.
Black horse, Blood horse, etc. See under Black, etc. -- Horse aloes,
caballine aloes. -- Horse ant (Zoˆl.), a large ant (Formica rufa); --
called also horse emmet. -- Horse artillery, that portion of the
artillery in which the cannoneers are mounted, and which usually serves
with the cavalry; flying artillery. -- Horse balm (Bot.), a
strong-scented labiate plant (Collinsonia Canadensis), having large
leaves and yellowish flowers. -- Horse bean (Bot.), a variety of the
English or Windsor bean (Faba vulgaris), grown for feeding horses. --
Horse boat, a boat for conveying horses and cattle, or a boat propelled
by horses. -- Horse bot. (Zoˆl.) See Botfly, and Bots. -- Horse box, a
railroad car for transporting valuable horses, as hunters. [Eng.] --
Horse breaker or trainer, one employed in subduing or training horses
for use. -- Horse car. (a) A railroad car drawn by horses. See under
Car. (b) A car fitted for transporting horses. -- Horse cassia (Bot.),
a leguminous plant (Cassia Javanica), bearing long pods, which contain
a black, catharic pulp, much used in the East Indies as a horse
medicine. -- Horse cloth, a cloth to cover a horse. -- Horse conch
(Zoˆl.), a large, spiral, marine shell of the genus Triton. See Triton.
-- Horse courser. (a) One that runs horses, or keeps horses for racing.
Johnson. (b) A dealer in horses. [Obs.] Wiseman. -- Horse crab (Zoˆl.),
the Limulus; -- called also horsefoot, horsehoe crab, and king crab. --
Horse crevallÈ (Zoˆl.), the cavally. -- Horse emmet (Zoˆl.), the horse
ant. -- Horse finch (Zoˆl.), the chaffinch. [Prov. Eng.] -- Horse
gentian (Bot.), fever root. -- Horse iron (Naut.), a large calking
iron. -- Horse latitudes, a space in the North Atlantic famous for
calms and baffling winds, being between the westerly winds of higher
latitudes and the trade winds. Ham. Nav. Encyc. -- Horse mackrel.
(Zoˆl.) (a) The common tunny (Orcynus thunnus), found on the Atlantic
coast of Europe and America, and in the Mediterranean. (b) The bluefish
(Pomatomus saltatrix). (c) The scad. (d) The name is locally applied to
various other fishes, as the California hake, the black candlefish, the
jurel, the bluefish, etc. -- Horse marine (Naut.), an awkward, lubbery
person; one of a mythical body of marine cavalry. [Slang] -- Horse
mussel (Zoˆl.), a large, marine mussel (Modiola modiolus), found on the
northern shores of Europe and America. -- Horse nettle (Bot.), a
coarse, prickly, American herb, the Solanum Carolinense. -- Horse
parsley. (Bot.) See Alexanders. -- Horse purslain (Bot.), a coarse
fleshy weed of tropical America (Trianthema monogymnum). -- Horse race,
a race by horses; a match of horses in running or trotting. -- Horse
racing, the practice of racing with horses. -- Horse railroad, a
railroad on which the cars are drawn by horses; -- in England, and
sometimes in the United States, called a tramway. -- Horse run (Civil
Engin.), a device for drawing loaded wheelbarrows up an inclined plane
by horse power. -- Horse sense, strong common sense. [Colloq. U.S.] --
Horse soldier, a cavalryman. -- Horse sponge (Zoˆl.), a large, coarse,
commercial sponge (Spongia equina). -- Horse stinger (Zoˆl.), a large
dragon fly. [Prov. Eng.] -- Horse sugar (Bot.), a shrub of the southern
part of the United States (Symplocos tinctoria), whose leaves are
sweet, and good for fodder. -- Horse tick (Zoˆl.), a winged, dipterous
insect (Hippobosca equina), which troubles horses by biting them, and
sucking their blood; -- called also horsefly, horse louse, and forest
fly. -- Horse vetch (Bot.), a plant of the genus Hippocrepis (H.
comosa), cultivated for the beauty of its flowers; -- called also
horsehoe vetch, from the peculiar shape of its pods. -- Iron horse, a
locomotive. [Colloq.] -- Salt horse, the sailor's name for salt beef.
-- To look a gift horse in the mouth, to examine the mouth of a horse
which has been received as a gift, in order to ascertain his age; --
hence, to accept favors in a critical and thankless spirit. Lowell. --
To take horse. (a) To set out on horseback. Macaulay. (b) To be
covered, as a mare. (c) See definition 7 (above).
Horse (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Horsed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Horsing.]
[AS. horsion.] 1. To provide with a horse, or with horses; to mount on,
or as on, a horse. "Being better horsed, outrode me." Shak.