Horrors, the low spirits, or “blue devils,” which follow intoxication. Incipient del. trem.
Horse, contraction of Horsemonger-Lane Gaol, also a slang term for a five-pound note.
Horse, to flog. From the old wooden horse or flogging-stool.
Horsebreaker. See [PRETTY HORSEBREAKER].
Horse chaunter, a dealer who takes worthless horses to country fairs and disposes of them by artifice. He is generally an unprincipled fellow, and will put in a glass eye, fill a beast with shot, plug him with ginger, or in fact do anything so that he sells to advantage. See [COPER].
Horse marine, an awkward person. In ancient times the “jollies,” or Royal Marines, were the butts of the sailors, from their ignorance of seamanship. “Tell that to the MARINES, the blue jackets wont believe it!” was a common rejoinder to a “stiff yarn.” A HORSE marine (an impossibility) was used to denote one more awkward even than an ordinary “jolly.” Nowadays the MARINES are deservedly appreciated as one of the finest regiments in the service.
Horse nails. At the game of cribbage, when a player finds it his policy to keep his antagonist back, rather than push himself forward, and plays accordingly, he is sometimes said “to feed his opponent on HORSE NAILS.”
Horse nails, money.—Compare [BRADS].
Horse’s nightcap, a halter; “to die in a HORSE’S NIGHTCAP,” to be hanged.
Horsey, like a groom or jockey. Applied also to persons who affect the turf in dress or conversation.