hornbook, a paper containing the alphabet, &c., protected by a transparent plate of horn, and mounted on a wooden tablet with a handle. Used for teaching the very young. L. L. L. v. 1. 49; Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 3. 46.
horn-keck, the gar-fish. Used fig., ‘Suche an horne-keke’ (as a term of abuse), Skelton, ed. Dyce, ii. 77; l. 304.
horn-thumb, a thimble of horn worn on the thumb by cut-purses, for resisting the edge of the knife in cutting; ‘I mean a child of the horn-thumb, a babe of booty, a cut-purse’, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Overdo). Cp. Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 5 (1661); p. 138, col. 2.
horrent, bristling. Milton, P. L. ii. 513. L. horrens, rough, bristled.
horse, pl. horses. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iii. 280 (and very often). OE. hors, horses, pl. of hors.
horsecorser, a dealer in horses. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, l. 1084. ‘A Horse Courser, or Horse scourser, mango equorum’, Minsheu (1627); horse-courser, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, Induction; Marlowe, Faustus, iv. 6. See [corser].
hose, clothing for the legs and loins, breeches. As You Like It, ii. 7. 160; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 185, 239. ‘Doublet and hose’, the typical male attire (i.e. without a cloak), Much Ado, i. 203; Merry Wives, iii. 1. 47.
hospitage, hospitality. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 10. 6. Med. L. hospitagium (Ducange).
hospitale, a place of rest, a building for receiving guests, a ‘hostel’. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 10. Med. L. hospitale (Ducange).
host, a victim to be sacrificed. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid ii, l. 196. L. hostia, an animal sacrificed, victim.