colt

Etymology

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, boy, lad”). Related to child.

noun

1. A young male horse.
   The petty vices of boys are like the innocent kicks of colts, as yet imperfectly broken. 1857, Herman Melville, chapter XXII, in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade
2. A young crane (bird).
3. (figurative) A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.
   1. (cricket, slang) A professional cricketer during his first season.
      The bowling is more promising in the colts than in the eleven. 1882, The Downside Review, volume 1, page 287
4. (nautical) A short piece of rope once used by petty officers as an instrument of punishment.
5. (biblical) A young camel or donkey.

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To horse; to get with young.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To befool.
3. To frisk or frolic like a colt; to act licentiously or wantonly.