cotton pony
- noun
:
poni de algodón
- The fair featured a friendly cotton pony for children and beginners to try.
Examples
-
Many children love to ride a cotton pony at fairs.
-
She remembers her first time on a cotton pony at the county festival.
-
All the kids at the birthday party wanted to ride the cotton pony in the petting zoo.
-
The cotton pony is perfect for young riders.
-
All the kids at the birthday party wanted to ride the cotton pony in the petting zoo.
-
She remembers her first time on a cotton pony at the county festival.
-
The fair featured a friendly cotton pony for children and beginners to try.
Synonyms
2
3.4
A very small, sturdy horse with thick shaggy fur from the Shetland Islands
A small, strong pony from Wales that is gentle and smart
A small strong horse used for riding by Native American people on the plains
Surface Forms
Morphology
The head noun 'pony' clearly signals a small horse, but 'cotton' as a modifier normally denotes material (e.g., a cotton toy) rather than size or temperament, so a learner would likely infer a stuffed or fabric pony rather than a live gentle pony used for children. Because the base meaning is partly predictable from 'pony' but the role of 'cotton' is not transparently linked to the defined sense, this is only partially compositional and not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Cotton pony may come from the image of a small pony with a soft, cotton-like coat that looks fluffy and friendly at fairs. So, the name came to mean 'a small, gentle pony for children to ride'.