cockhorse

See also: cock-horse

English

Adjective

cockhorse (comparative more cockhorse, superlative most cockhorse)

1. Lifted up, as one is on a tall horse.
2. (figuratively) Lofty in feeling; exultant, proud, upstart.
   • 1598, George Chapman, “Sixth Sestyad”, in Christopher Marlo[w]e, George Chapman, Hero and Leander: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Richard Hawkins: […], published 1629, →OCLC:

     [Y]et I needs muſt ſee / Our painted fooles and cockehorſe peſſantry, / Still ſtill vſurpe, with long liues, loues and luſt, / The feats of vertue; […]

Noun

cockhorse (plural cockhorses)

1. (archaic) A child's rocking horse.
   • a. 1744, unknown author, Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross (traditional nursery rhymes)

     Ride a cockhorse to Banbury cross.

2. (obsolete) A high or tall horse.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “cockhorse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• horse cock, horsecock