different between reefing vs horse

English

Pronunciation

Noun

reefing (plural reefings)

1. The process of reefing (taking in a sail); an act of reefing; also used of clothing.
   • 1852, Charles Barter, The Dorp and the Veld: or, Six Months in Natal, page 248,

     I will not detain the reader with the contents of our sea-log, which is full of tackings and reefings, of setting and taking in of sails, and many other manoeuvres […] .

   • 1868 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Our Second Girl, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 21, page 53,

     As matters were, our three girls never could be in our kitchen at one time without reefings and manœuvrings of their apparel which much impeded any other labor, and caused some loss of temper; […] .

   • 2005, John S. Bohne, In the Shadow of the Moon, page 28,

     Many had the bald-headed sail rigging, so crews would not have to go aloft in the winds to do dangerous reefings.

2. (Australia, New Zealand) A reef (seam of quartz).
   • 1924, Newspaper Press Directory, page 387,

     Alluvial goldfields and quartz reefings are in its vicinity, and good indications of coal.

   • 1977, William Kelly, Life in Victoria: or, Victoria in 1853, and Victoria in 1858, page 218,

     […] instead of taking a “leap in the dark” — a mistake which impulsive young men sometimes make in other relations of life, as well as in quartz reefings.

Verb

reefing

1. present participle of reef

Anagrams

• feigner, freeing

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hô(r)s, IPA^(key): /h??s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /h??s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s
• Homophone: hoarse (in accents with the horse-hoarse merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English horse, hors, from Old English hors (“horse”), from Proto-West Germanic *hors, *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hruss? (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *?r?sós (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *?ers- (“to run”). Cognate with North Frisian hors (“horse”), West Frisian hoars (“horse”), Dutch ros, hors (“horse”), German Ross (“horse”), Danish hors (“horse”), Swedish russ, hors (“horse”), Icelandic hross, hors (“horse”).

Noun

horse (plural horses)

1. Any of several animals related to Equus ferus caballus.
   1. A hoofed mammal, of the genus Equus, often used throughout history for riding and draft work.
   2. (zoology) Any current or extinct animal of the family Equidae, including the zebra or the ass.

   3. (military, sometimes uncountable) Cavalry soldiers (sometimes capitalized when referring to an official category).

   4. (chess, informal) The chess piece representing a knight, depicted as a horse.

   5. (slang) A large and sturdy person.

   6. (historical) A timber frame shaped like a horse, which soldiers were made to ride for punishment.

      Synonyms: Morgan's mule, Spanish donkey

2. Equipment with legs.
   1. In gymnastics, a piece of equipment with a body on two or four legs, approximately four feet high, sometimes (pommel horse) with two handles on top.

   2. A frame with legs, used to support something.

3. (nautical) Type of equipment.
   1. A rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope.
   2. A breastband for a leadsman.
   3. An iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon.
   4. A jackstay.
      • 1887, William Clark Russell, A Book for the Hammock

        The old “horse” has made way for the “foot-rope", though we still retain the term “Flemish horse" for the short foot-rope at the top-sail yard-arms

      (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)

4. (mining) A mass of earthy matter, or rock of the same character as the wall rock, occurring in the course of a vein, as of coal or ore; hence, to take horse (said of a vein) is to divide into branches for a distance.
5. (slang) The sedative, antidepressant, and anxiolytic drug morphine, chiefly when used illicitly.
   • 1962, Cape Fear, 00:15:20

     Check that shirt. I got a couple of jolts of horse stashed under the collar

6. (US) An informal variant of basketball in which players match shots made by their opponent(s), each miss adding a letter to the word "horse", with 5 misses spelling the whole word and eliminating a player, until only the winner is left. Also HORSE, H-O-R-S-E or H.O.R.S.E. (see H-O-R-S-E on Wikipedia.Wikipedia ).
7. (dated, slang, among students) A translation or other illegitimate aid in study or examination.
8. (dated, slang, among students) horseplay; tomfoolery

Usage notes

The noun can be used attributively in compounds and phrases to add the sense of large and/or coarse.

Synonyms

• (animal): caple (obsolete or dialectal), cheval (obsolete), horsie, nag, prad, steed; see also Thesaurus:horse
• (gymnastic equipment): pommel horse, vaulting horse
• (chess piece): knight
• (illegitimate study aid): dobbin, pony, trot

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Maori: h?iho
• ? Quiripi: hosses (from the plural horses)

Translations

See also

• Horse-related English words

Etymology 2

From Middle English horsen, from Old English horsian (“to horse, provide with horses”) and ?ehorsian (“to horse, set or mount on a horse, supply with horses”), from the noun (see above).

Verb

horse (third-person singular simple present horses, present participle horsing, simple past and past participle horsed)

1. (intransitive) To frolic, to act mischievously. (Usually followed by "around".)
   • 1989, Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (script)

     "Genghis Khan! Abe Lincoln! That’s funny until someone gets hurt."
     But Genghis Khan and Lincoln keep horsing around.

   • 1943, Ted W. Lawson and Bob Consodine, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo

     I told him that if I passed out before we got to a hospital I wanted him to see to it that no quack horsed around with my leg.

2. (transitive) To provide with a horse; supply horses for.
3. (obsolete) To get on horseback.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, "Cupid's Arrows":

     He horsed himself well.

4. To sit astride of; to bestride.
   • 1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Cymbeline, II. i. 203:

     Stalls, bulks, windows / Are smothered up, leads filled, and ridges horsed / With variable complexions, all agreeing / In earnestness to see him.

5. (of a male horse) To copulate with (a mare).
6. To take or carry on the back.
   • c. 1667, Samuel Butler, Characters

     keepers, horsing the deer

7. To place (someone) on the back of another person, or on a wooden horse, etc., to be flogged; (hence) to flog.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, I.20:

     [N]otwithstanding the intercession of his governor, who begged earnestly that his punishment might be mitigated, our unfortunate hero was publickly horsed, in terrorem of all whom it might concern.
8. (transitive, dated) To urge at work tyrannically.
9. (intransitive, dated) To charge for work before it is finished.

Derived terms

• horse around
• unhorse

Translations

Etymology 3

Unknown

Noun

horse (uncountable)

1. (uncountable, slang) Heroin (drug).

   Alright, mate, got any horse?

Synonyms

• (heroin): H, smack

Translations

Further reading

• horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• RSeOH, Rohes, Shore, hoers, hoser, shero, shoer, shore

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English hors, from Proto-West Germanic *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hruss? (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“run”).

Noun

horse

1. Alternative form of hors

Etymology 2

From Old English *h?rs, variant of h?s.

Adjective

horse

1. Alternative form of hos

Etymology 3

Verb

horse

1. Alternative form of horsen (“to provide with a horse”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

horse f (definite singular horsa, indefinite plural horser, definite plural horsene)

1. a mare
2. (derogatory) frivolous woman

Verb

horse (present tense horsar, past tense horsa, past participle horsa, passive infinitive horsast, present participle horsande, imperative hors)

1. (intransitive, of a stallion) to run around amongst the mares
2. (intransitive, of a man) to run around, chiefly drunkenly

Scots

Etymology

From Old English hors.

Noun

horse (plural horse)

1. horse