horse

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”). Cognate with North Frisian hors (“horse”), West Frisian hoars (“horse”), Dutch ros, hors (“horse”), German Ross (“horse”), Danish hors (“horse”), Swedish russ, hors (“horse”), Icelandic hross, hors (“horse”).

noun

1. A hoofed mammal, Equus ferus caballus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.
   1. Any member of the species Equus ferus, including the Przewalski's horse and the extinct Equus ferus ferus.
   2. (zoology) Any current or extinct animal of the family Equidae, including zebras and asses.
      These bone features, distinctive in the zebra, are actually present in all horses.
   3. (military, sometimes uncountable) Cavalry soldiers (sometimes capitalized when referring to an official category).
      We should place two units of horse and one of foot on this side of the field.
      All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty together again.
   4. A component of certain games.
      1. (chess, informal) The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.
         Now just remind me how the horse moves again?
      2. (xiangqi) A xiangqi piece that moves and captures one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally.
   5. (slang) A large and sturdy person.
      Every linebacker they have is a real horse.
   6. (historical) A timber frame shaped like a horse, which soldiers were made to ride for punishment.
2. Equipment with legs.
   1. 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.
      She's scored very highly with the parallel bars; let's see how she does with the horse.
   2. A frame with legs, used to support something.
      a clothes horse; a sawhorse
3. (nautical) Type of equipment.
   1. A rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope.
   2. A breastband for a leadsman.
   3. An iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon.
   4. A jackstay.
      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 1887, William Clark Russell, A Book for the Hammock
4. (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.
5. (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..
6. (uncountable) The flesh of a horse as an item of cuisine.
   She said: "I'm starved. I could eat a horse." I told her she was lying, because I had once eaten horse. 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 46
7. (prison slang) A prison guard who smuggles contraband in or out for prisoners.
   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 […] 1980, Lee Harrington Bowker, Prison Victimization, page 117
8. (dated, slang, among students) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination.
9. (dated, slang, among students) Horseplay; tomfoolery.

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).

verb

1. (intransitive) To frolic, to act mischievously. (Usually followed by "around".)
   "Genghis Khan! Abe Lincoln! That’s funny until someone gets hurt." But Genghis Khan and Lincoln keep horsing around. 1989, Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (script)
   I told him that if I passed out before we got to a hospital I wanted him to see to it that no quack horsed around with my leg. 1943, Ted W. Lawson, Bob Considine, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo
2. (transitive) To play mischievous pranks on.
   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[…] 2015-03-07, Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., Palm Beach: A Novel, Rowman & Littlefield, page 106
3. (transitive) To provide with a horse; supply horses for.
   […] and the same number from Russia for horsing her guns. During peace Turkey has 15,000 regular Cavalry; on mobilisation she should have 21,000, and 4,000 pack animals, without taking the irregular corps into consideration. 1907, Cavalry Journal
   The result of one night's play was that the man who horsed the party had not one hoof to call his own when the morning's reckoning came to be made. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 303
4. (obsolete) To get on horseback.
   He horsed himself well. 1888, Rudyard Kipling, Cupid's Arrows
5. To sit astride of; to bestride.
6. (of a male horse) To copulate with (a mare).
7. To take or carry on the back.
   keepers, horsing the deer c. 1667, Samuel Butler, Characters
8. 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. 1963, Charles Harold Nichols, Many Thousand Gone
   Faster than Lei could have believed, Omura blocked the exit, grabbed Kennedy's wrist and twisted it up behind her back, horsing her onto the hard metal chair. She sat the woman on it, slapping on a pair of cuffs. 2020-04-02, Toby Neal, Paradise Crime Mysteries Books 1-9, Neal Enterprises INC
   1. (by extension) To flog.
9. (transitive) To pull, haul, or move (something) with great effort, like a horse would.
   [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. 1836, Hugh Murray, John Crawfurd, Peter Gordon, Thomas Lynn, William Wallace, Gilbert Thomas Burnett, An Historical and Descriptive Account of China, page 216
   Cambria observing this again went about, and tacked towards the island, Sappho followed suit; after a short reach she again tacked and stood for the mark vessel, the tide horsing her well to the westward, but the Cambria stood on[…] 1870, Hunt's Yachting Magazine, page 266
   At 2:30 P.M. two gray-and-yellow tugs began horsing her out of her berth. Backing, she turned to starboard, past the end of the dock. Engine stopped, she carried sternway as her bow swung for the harbor mouth. 1981, Robert Roderick, The Greek Position: A Novel, Simon & Schuster
10. (informal) To cram (food) quickly, indiscriminately or in great volume.
    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.' 2012-02-02, Anna Smith, To Tell the Truth: Rosie Gilmour 2, Quercus Publishing
    Get your laughing gear around some protein at every meal, spreading your intake over the course of the day rather than horsing it into you all in one go, at one mealtime. If you are training hard, try to consume around 25g protein[…] 2021-01-07, Paul Olima, Fit: Smash your goals and stay strong for life, Simon and Schuster
11. (transitive, dated) To urge at work tyrannically.
12. (intransitive, dated) To charge for work before it is finished.

Etymology 3

Unknown; probably originally criminals' cant based on the initial letter of both words.

noun

1. (slang) Heroin (drug).
   Check that shirt. I got a couple of jolts of horse stashed under the collar 1962, Cape Fear, 00:15:20