cock-horsen.adv.adj.
/ˌkɒkˈhɔːs/, U.S. /ˈkɑkˌhɔrs/ A. n.† 2. A proud, high-spirited horse; a fine horse. Frequently in figurative contexts: a position of arrogance or superiority; one's ‘high horse’ (see horse n. 23b). Obsolete.† 3. The game of leapfrog. Obsolete. rare.
1. Something a child rides astride as if on a horse, such as a stick with a model of a horse's head at one end, or an adult's legs.Sometimes with reference to the nursery rhyme beginning ‘Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross’ (see quot. 1788 at Phrases a).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > other toys > [noun] > hobby-horse, etc.
cock-horse1541
hobby-horse1589
hobby1689
cop-horse1877
1541 T. Elyot Image of Gouernance xxvi. f. 57v The dotynge pleasure to se my litell sonne ryde on a cokhorse.
1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. xv. f. 114v/2 in R. Holinshed Chron. I We oft exchange our finest Cloth, Corne, Tinne and Woolles for halfe penny cockhorses for children.
1694 N. H. Ladies Dict. 343/2 If he would be a good boy he would buy him a Cockhorse, a Sword, and a hat and feather.
1797 W. Godwin Enquirer i. xiii. 112 The children thus educated, understand dolls, and cock-horses, and beating tables, and riding upon sticks, and every thing but a little common sense.
1861 G. A. Sala Dutch Pict. ix. 135 That large man..whose knees comprise such an inexhaustible supply of cock-horses.
1919 Good Housek. July 135/1 As long as they did not disturb any of the shrubs, but rode tricycles and cockhorses up and down in harmless glee, we felt sure that those in authority would be kind.
1967 Des Moines (Iowa) Reg. 9 Dec. 4 s/3 Customarily, a deceased child's toys were entombed with him, and cockhorses have been excavated from ancient mausoleums.
1996 K. Griffith in W. Schiller Issues in Expressive Arts (1998) 15 Children's lives are given shape through literature. Their toes become pigs going about their daily tasks; they become babies rocking in tree tops and they are given rides on cock horses going to Banbury Cross.
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the mind > emotion > pride > spirited pride > [noun] > person
cock-horse1581
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xxxvi. 138 He that beareth a tankarde by meanesse of degree, and was borne for a cokhorse by sharpenes of witte.
1784 Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 711/2 The mob were on tiptoe, ready to mount the cock-horse of their own sagacity, and to trample the impostor with all his apparatus into the earth.
1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma xxxviii. 160 He now goes drooping and slouching away, very unlike the cock-horse he came out.
1874 G. Meredith Beauchamp's Career in Fortn. Rev. Sept. 378 That conqueror of circumstances will..return on his cockhorse to favour and authority.
1895 Med. Rec. (N.Y.) 21 Dec. 878/1 A check must be imposed on garrulous bacteriologists who show a disposition to ride the cock-horse among us.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > other children's games > [noun] > leap-frog
leap-frog1600
truss1627
cock-horse1648
truss-a-faila1658
skip-frog1699
hop-frog1720
frog in the middle (also meadow)1790
fly-the-garter1818
frog over an old dog1847–78
1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Paerdeken op spelen, to Play at Cock-horse, or leape over one an others backes.
4. An additional horse used to help draw a coach uphill. Now chiefly historical.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > draught-horse > that pulls vehicle > of specific type (miscellaneous) > that pulls coach > uphill
cock-horse1885
1885 Notts. Guardian 6 Feb. 8 He met two boys who are employed by the Nottingham Tramways Company, who were riding ‘cock’ horses.
1891 Field 25 July 134/1 With no further use for the cock horse, we cast him off at the top of the hill.
1916 Saddle & Show Horse Chron. 29 Nov. 20/3 Each team moved brilliantly, with cockhorse in the rear, and judging by the applause each had friends in the throng.
1928 Times 3 Sept. 16 The Old Berkeley passing the Five Alls on Dashwood Hill, with a pair of cock-horses to help the team over the Chilterns.
1988 Carriage Jrnl. Winter 142/1 I have been considering putting a coach on the road with a four. There is one steep hill on the proposed route and someone suggested having a cock-horse on hand there. Can you tell me how a cock-horse is harnessed?
B. adv.
Mounted as if on a horse; astride something. Frequently with on (or upon), specifying the object mounted. Now rare.Sometimes with reference to a child either playing on a toy hobby horse (or a stick used in the same way), or being bounced on an adult’s legs as if he or she were riding a horse.
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the world > space > relative position > posture > position of specific body parts > [adverb] > legs
striddlingc1440
lirylongc1460
a (also on) cock-horse1564
cock-horse1566
stridelong1609
astride1664
stride-legged1688
a-straddle1703
stride-leg1809
straddle-legged1817
striddle-legs1825
straddle-leg1836
straddleback1839
straddle1857
strideways1859
straddle-wise1865
straddle-fashion1873
straddleways1919
1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. Gv To playe at euen and odde, to ryde Cockhorse in chyldyshe guyse.
1718 M. Prior Alma i, in Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 320 Alma, they strenuously maintain, Sits Cock-horse on Her Throne, the Brain.
a1764 R. Lloyd Familiar Epist. in Poet. Wks. (1774) II. 60 As boys ride cock-horse on a broom.
1841 Sir Henry Delmé II. xvii. 254 There was Julia perched cock-horse on the bank.
1859 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 257/2 We are in the very penetralia of the bells, and sitting cock-horse on a beam, look up into a great iron mouth.
1878 N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 259 A huge fellow..was riding ‘cock-horse’ on a gun.
1971 Metrop. Mus. Jrnl. 4 121/2 The beautiful children beating drums, walking on stilts, riding cockhorse, [etc.].
Arrogant, presumptuous; that is an upstart. Obsolete.
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the mind > emotion > pride > overweening or presumption > [adjective]
thristec897
overgartc1230
jollya1340
overweening1340
presumptuousa1398
presuming1434
presumptious?a1450
cock-horse1598
overweened1602
presumant1602
presumptive1609
self-assuming1647
presultory1652
assuming1695
pretending1727
engrossinga1797
hubristic1831
superweening1862
assumptious1878
assumptive1879
hubristical1923
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie i. iii. sig. D2 Shall cock-horse, fat-paunch'd Milo staine whole stocks Of well borne soules, with his adultering spots?
1598 G. Chapman in C. Marlowe & G. Chapman Hero & Leander (new ed.) vi. sig. N2 Our painted fooles and cockhorse Pessantrie Still still vsurp, with long liues, loues, and lust, The seates of vertue.
1658 R. Brathwait Age of Apes in Honest Ghost 135 Is it not strange to heare this Cock-horse Lord..Thus magnifie himself.
Phrases
a (also on) cock-horse.In some instances (e.g. in quot. 1621 at Phrases a and quot. 1978 at Phrases b) a cock-horse may be analysed as a noun phrase with the indefinite article rather than as an adverbial phrase.
a. Mounted as if on a horse; astride something. Frequently with on (or upon), specifying the object mounted. Frequently in to ride a cock-horse.Often with reference to a child either playing on a toy hobby horse (or a stick used in the same way), or being bounced on an adult’s legs as if he or she were riding a horse, often to the accompaniment of the nursery rhyme beginning ‘Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross’ (see quot. 1788).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > posture > position of specific body parts > [adverb] > legs
striddlingc1440
lirylongc1460
a (also on) cock-horse1564
cock-horse1566
stridelong1609
astride1664
stride-legged1688
a-straddle1703
stride-leg1809
straddle-legged1817
striddle-legs1825
straddle-leg1836
straddleback1839
straddle1857
strideways1859
straddle-wise1865
straddle-fashion1873
straddleways1919
1564 W. Bullein Dialogue against Fever Pestilence f. 49v The Drake with all the water foules, did stope lowe, and receiue their carriage, and when thei were all a kockehorse together, thei wente into the water.
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft iii. xvi. 66 They..passe so farre in so little a space on cockhorsse [i.e. on broomsticks].
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. ii. vi. iv. 376 Sometimes he would ride a cock-horse with his children, though Alcibiades scoffed at him for it.
1622 R. Hawkins Observ. Voiage South Sea xix. 48 The Whale..swimmeth presently ashore, and the Indian a cock-horse vpon him.
1660 Char. Italy 7 His Petrified Sanctity riding a Cock-horse on mens shoulders.
1664 S. Butler Hudibras: Second Pt. ii. iii. 134 And Ralpho got a Cock-horse too Upon his Beast, with much adoe.
1689 R. Milward Selden's Table-talk 47 When you would have a Child go to such a place, and you find him unwilling, you tell him he shall ride a Cock-horse.
1703 E. Ward Pleasures of Matrimony vi. 92 Nothing would serve her but to ride on Cock-Horse, as I may say, at one time upon the Elephant, and another time to bestride Tom Dove.
1788 ‘Nurse Lovechild’ Tommy Thumb's Song Bk. 56 Ride a Cock Horse, To Banbury Cross, To see what Tommy can buy.
1852 C. de Chatelain tr. H. C. Andersen Tales 29 No sooner did they sit a cock-horse upon it [sc. a stick], than its shining knob changed to a pretty, neighing head, with a flowing black mane.
1863 Ld. Lytton Ring of Amasis I. i. ii. i. 83 When I was only able—equitare in arundine longa—to ride a-cockhorse on a stick.
1990 T. Griggs Quickening viii. 59 He'd been made to ride-a-cock-horse on one of those feet, straddling ankles like hips, and he'd nearly died of fright.
2007 A. Enright Gathering (2008) xxxvii. 246 Mossie, who sits him on one long leg and jounces him, hard, Ride a cock horse, threatening to spill him on to the floor.
b. In an exalted or elevated position (literal and figurative); in a position of triumph or superiority. Now rare.
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the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > there is much success [phrase] > in elation of success
a (also on) cock-horse1576
in the (first, full) flush1829
the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > [noun] > one who has mastery or superiority > position of
a (also on) cock-horse1576
the world > space > relative position > high position > in a high position [phrase]
a (also on) cock-horse1708
1576 L. Tomson tr. P. de la Place Treat. Excellencie of Christian Man sig. B.viiv It were to set a mortall man to much on cockhorse to saye that his voyce were so pearcing of it self as to work a regeneration in the soule of man.
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie i. iii. sig. Dv Hath got the Farme of some gelt Vicary, And now on cock-horse, gallops iollilie.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Il est à cheval, hee is set on cocke-horse; hee is all a hoight, hee now begins to flaunt it.
1658 T. Wall God's Revenge 41 There is no tyrannie like to that of a slave, whom vilany hath set a cock-horse.
1708 W. Darrell Suppl. to 1st Pt. Gentleman Instructed vii. 138 The Ladies sit on Cockhorse upon Scaffolds in open View, as if they were at the Theatre.
1829 T. P. Thompson in Westm. Rev. Jan. 10 The outbreak of an oppressed party, and setting it a-cock-horse on the oppressing one.
1978 Lawrence Daily Jrnl.-World 17 Aug. 15/6 Joe Tumpich is not going into major college football riding a cock horse trumpeting himself as a future first-round pro draft choice.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adv.adj.1541