Word of the Day

: July 12, 2014

hobbyhorse

noun HAH-bee-horss

What It Means

1 a : a stick having an imitation horse's head at one end that a child pretends to ride

b : a rocking horse

c : a toy horse suspended by springs from a frame

2 : a topic to which one constantly reverts

hobbyhorse in Context

"The intricate toys, hobbyhorses and tiny working carriages, were made for child play before the eras of radio, TV, Nintendo or Internet." - Wendi Winters, The Capital (Annapolis, Maryland), December 24, 2006

"This has long been a hobbyhorse for McCain; who could forget-literally, because he said it roughly 1 billion times during the 2000/2008 campaigns-that Congress spent $3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana?" - Chris Cillizza, WashingtonPost.com, May 7, 2014

Did You Know?

The hobbyhorse is a toy of yesteryear, dating back to a homespun era predating automobiles. In the 1400s, the word "hobby" could refer to a real-life horse of small or average size. It soon came to refer to the horse costume worn by one participating in a morris dance or burlesque performance, and then, later, to the child's toy. Another meaning of "hobbyhorse" was "a favorite pursuit or pastime"; our modern noun "hobby" ("an activity that one does for pleasure when not working") was formed by shortening this word. From "pastime," the meaning of "hobbyhorse" was extended to "a subject to which one repeatedly returns." The sense is typically encountered as part of such metaphorical phrases as "get on one's hobbyhorse" or "ride one's hobbyhorse."