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Sep 4, 2020
This week’s themeWords with horse-related origins This week’s words wheel horse caballine horse's mouth chivalrous cock-horse 
Illustration: William Wallace Denslow, 1901 This week’s comments AWADmail 949 Next week’s theme Eponyms 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargcock-horse
PRONUNCIATION:
(KAHK-hors)
MEANING:
adverb: Mounted with a leg on each side. noun: A hobby horse. ETYMOLOGY:
From cock (rooster) + horse, perhaps from the strutting of a rooster.
Earliest documented use: 1566.
NOTES:
The best-known use of the term is in this nursery rhyme:
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
As in this nursery rhyme, the term is often used in contexts where a
child is riding a hobby horse. The use of the term in today’s usage
example though is not as innocent as it sounds. We’ll leave it at that.
To see a fine lady upon a white horse; Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, And she shall have music wherever she goes. USAGE:
“‘Do you want to ride a cock-horse today, Johnny?’ she asked.” Jak. E. Rander; An Eye for an Eye; Xlibris; 2012. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the
prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy. -Ivan Illich, philosopher
and priest (4 Sep 1926-2002)
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