hobby horse

hobby horse

See also: hobbyhorse and hobby-horse

English

Alternative forms

• hobbyhorse, hobby-horse

Noun

A child with a hobby horse (2).

A man with a hobby horse (4).

hobby horse (plural hobby horses)

1. (originally) The Irish hobby, an extinct breed of horse.
2. A child's toy consisting of a (usually wooden or cloth) horse mounted on a stick.
3. (figuratively) A topic about which someone loves to talk at great length.

   Don't ask him about global warming: it's his favourite hobby horse, you'll never get away.

4. A puppet-like costume used in some traditional dances and festivals that gives its wearer the appearance of a man on horseback.
5. An early bicycle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne.

Translations

child's toy

Danish: kæphest (da) c Dutch: stokpaard (nl) n, stokpaardje (nl) n Finnish: keppihevonen (fi) French: dada (fr) m, cheval bâton m, cheval chaussette m Galician: cabaliño de xoguete m

German: Steckenpferd (de) n Italian: cavalluccio di legno m Macedonian: коњче n (kónjče) Russian: конёк (ru) m (konjók) Swedish: käpphäst (sv) c

topic about which someone loves to talk

Danish: kæphest (da) c Dutch: stokpaardje (nl) n French: dada (fr) m, violon d'Ingres (fr) m German: Steckenpferd (de) n

Hungarian: vesszőparipa (hu) Polish: konik (pl) m Russian: конёк (ru) m (konjók) Swedish: käpphäst (sv) c

puppet-like costume

French: cheval-jupon (fr) m, masque-cheval m

early bicycle

Dutch: draisine f

French: draisienne (fr) f

See also

• rocking horse