English edit

 
(sense 1)

Etymology edit

From snow +‎ horse.

Noun edit

snowhorse (plural snowhorses)

  1. A visual representation of a horse made from snow.
    • 1958, Alan Brilliant, editor, Pan: A Quarterly of Poetry, New York: Igal Roodenko:
      One sees instead a small snowhorse / Made by children one dull afternoon, / Though now it gleams like Triton’s foal / New-born from the unblemished foam.
    • 1991, Clara Johnson Scroggins, Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments: A Collector’s Guide, Hallmark Cards, →ISBN, page 102:
      Little boy, house, Christmas trees, and snowman riding a snowhorse are depicted.
    • 1992, Isabelle Knockwood, Gillian Thomas, Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi’kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Roseway Publishing, →ISBN, page 72:
      Other times, we’d make snowdragons, and snowhorses and a big pile of snowballs.
    • 2002, Doranna Durgin, Changespell Legacy (The Changespell Saga, Book III), Blue Hound Visions, published 2013, →ISBN:
      He’d helped them build a snowman this winter. With a snowhorse.
    • 2005, Joanne Merriam, The Glaze from Breaking, Stride Publications, →ISBN, page 56:
      Sometime in 1977 my father takes a series of photographs of me sitting on a snowhorse we’d just made, which amuses my parents when they realize that I’m eating the snow.
    • 2012, V. J. Chambers, Dancing Days (The Helicon Muses, Book One), Punk Rawk Books, →ISBN, page 73:
      “Are they making snowmen?” asked Nora. / “Snowmen, snowwomen, snowmermaids, snowhorses—anything you can think of,” said Maddie.
  2. A horse bred or used for service in the winter.
    • 1944 April 5, “Famous Dairy Herd Auctioned”, in The Parsons Sun, volume 72, number 219, Parsons, Kan., page 6, column 4:
      Longview Farms, now operated by Loula Long Combs, better known throughout the United States as a breeder and exhibitor of thoroughbred snowhorses, is disposing of its 758 fine grade dairy cattle and replacing them with 700 beef cattle which need less attention.
    • 1951 January 27, Ray Nelson, “Beautiful Calm of the Children”, in The Herald-Journal, volume 42, number 43, Logan, Ut., page 2, column 1:
      Our boy Kent was with us. The mushy roads, the prancing snowhorses, the treacherous patches of ice on the highway, bothered him not a whit.
    • 1957 January 14, “Hydramatic Transmissions Due Check Every 8-10,000 Miles, Says Expert”, in Shreveport Journal, volume 63, Shreveport, La., page 8, column 3:
      They are equipped to completely rebuild and overhaul your present motor and return it to your[sic] purring like a kitten and performing like a snowhorse.
    • 1983, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 65, page 40, column 1:
      There are “snowhorses,” not otherwise described in detail, that might be more than just ordinary equines bred for service in the winter.
    • 1983, Marta Randall, The Sword of Winter, Timescape Books, →ISBN, page 73:
      Lyeth led the way through the narrow, up-sloping passage called the Neck and into an exercise yard where snowhorses and summer horses were being groomed or exercised or simply admired.
    • 1996, Jonathan Allison, Patrick Kavanagh: A Reference Guide, G. K. Hall & Co., →ISBN, page 45:
      Profile of Kavanagh, who “has the constitution of a Tibetan snowhorse.” Comments on Kavanagh’s recovery from cancer: []

Anagrams edit