Warhorse

Pronunciation varies by accent · noun

Meaning

(historical, military) Any horse used in horse-cavalry, but especially one bearing an armoured knight..

Definitions by Sense

1. (historical, military) Any horse used in horse-cavalry, but especially one bearing an armoured knight.
2. (figurative, informal) An experienced person who has been through many battles, situations or contests; someone who has given long service.
3. (theater, music) A regularly revived theatrical or musical work, as with Hamlet or a Beethoven symphony, or as excerpts thereto. May imply that the work in question has become hackneyed.

Example Sentences

Just within the inner edge of the circle stood a soldier, in the military attire of a strange nation; and without it was his warhorse, in the center of a collection of mounted domestics, seemingly in readiness to undertake some distant journey.

As he spoke, the knight-errant, who had remounted his war-horse, galloped forward to the royal stand, with a silken kerchief bound round his wounded arm.

Near-synonym: workhorse

Among other accidents of that year was a Democratic president. Judge Atwood was a warhorse of Democracy.

Certainly this was a bold proposal to an old warhorse like Ecuyer, and, like a true English bulldog, he voiced a reply which made the Indians wince.

“I don't know. I never notice much. Oh, they do kid me about not being in the army—especially the old warhorses, the old men that aren't going themselves. And this Bogart boy. And Mr. Hicks's son—he's a horrible brat. But probably he's licensed to say what he thinks about his father's hired man!”

Srinath: India's warhorse [title]

a Wagner warhorse

Synonyms for warhorse

Antonyms for warhorse

Related Words

Word Forms

• warhorses

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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