Definition of horse noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

horse

noun

hɔːs

hɔːrs

1 a large animal with four legs, a mane (= long thick hair on its neck) and a tail. Horses are used for riding on, pulling carriages, etcHe mounted his horse and rode off.a horse and cart see also colt, filly, foal, gelding, mare, stallion2 the horses [plural] (informal) horse racingHe lost a lot of money on the horses (= by gambling on races).3 = vaulting horse see also clothes horse, hobby horse, Quarter Horse, rocking horse, sea horse, stalking horse, Trojan horse, white horses

Idioms

(straight) from the horse's mouth

(informal) (of information) given by somebody who is directly involved and therefore likely to be accurate

hold your horses

(informal) used to tell somebody that they should wait a moment and not be so excited that they take action without thinking about it first

horses for courses

(British English) the act of matching people with suitable jobs or tasks This expression refers to the fact that horses race better on a track that suits them.

a one, two, three, etc. horse race

a competition or an election in which there are only one, two, etc. teams or candidates with a chance of winning

The women's competition was a two horse race between last year's winners Surrey and the previous champions Essex.

you can lead/take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink

(saying) you can give somebody the opportunity to do something, but you cannot force them to do it if they do not want to

more at back the wrong horse at back verb, close, etc. the barn door after the horse has escaped at barn noun, put the cart before the horse at cart noun, change horses in midstream at change verb, a dark horse at dark adjective, drive a coach and horses through something at drive verb, eat like a horseI could eat a horse at eat, flog a dead horse at flog, look a gift-horse in the mouth at gift noun, be/get on your high horse at high adjective, close, lock, etc. the stable door after the horse has bolted at stable door noun, wild horses would not drag, make, etc. somebody at wild adjective, if wishes were horses, beggars would/might ride at wish noun