2. (university).—A translation. To ride hobbies = to use Cribs (q.v.).
Sir Posthumous Hobby, subs. phr. (old).—One nice or whimsical in his clothes.
Hobby-horse, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A whim; a fancy; a favourite pursuit. Hence Hobbyhorsical = strongly attached to a particular fad.
1759. Sterne, Tristram Shandy (1793), ch. vii., p. 18. Have they not had their hobby-horses?
d. 1768. Sterne, Letters (1793), letter 19, p. 65. ’Tis in fact my hobby-horse.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hobby Horse, a man’s favourite amusement, or study, is called his hobby horse.
1893. Westminster Gaz., 15 Mar., p. 9, c. 1. We quarrel a bit—he is so hobby-horsical, you can’t avoid it—and then we make friends again.
2. (colloquial).—A rantipole girl; a wench; a wanton.
1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, iii., 1. Call’st thou my love hobby-horse? Moth. No, master; the hobby-horse is but a colt, and your love, perhaps a hackney.
1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, 1., 2. They say my wife’s a hobby-horse.