: a large solid-hoofed herbivorousungulate mammal (Equus caballus, family Equidae, the horse family) domesticated since prehistoric times and used as a beast of burden, a draft animal, or for riding
: an athlete whose performance is consistently strong and reliable
a team with the horses to win the pennant
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or H-O-R-S-E: a game in which players take turns attempting to duplicate successful basketball shots, a letter of the word "horse" is awarded for each missed attempt, and the first player to receive all five letters loses
Noun
a car with 275 horses
He lost a lot of money on the horses.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Many Bloomington residents ride horses; her family owns a plant nursery.—Rebecca Plevin, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2024 Rodents, frogs, and horses are some notable exceptions to the vomit rule.—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 6 June 2024 According to the Parks Department, the four horses are said to represent mighty rivers: the Mississippi River, the Seine, the Volga and the Rhine.—Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 6 June 2024 On June 3, the 8-year-old Lipizzaner horse, Valcour, was standing in a barn at Linebrook Farm in Ipswich, Massachusetts, when suddenly, his hind legs fell through the stall floor.—Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 5 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for horse
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'horse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun, Verb, and Adjective
Middle English hors, from Old English; akin to Old High German hros horse
First Known Use
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)
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