Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
horseshoes

horseshoes

3.9
A game of throwing U-shaped metal rings at a stake to land around it or close
  • noun
  • /ˈhɔrʃuːz/
  • US
translation icon : juego de herraduras
  • Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Examples

  • On weekends, we play horseshoes in the backyard, aiming to encircle the stake.

  • But as they say, you know, a miss is as good as a mile, except in horseshoes and atom bombs.

  • "Except," he chimed in, "Dante omits all mention of the 'We Do Not Make Horseshoes' sign."

    Fiction book (2001)

  • At the family reunion, the competition in horseshoes brought everyone together for fun.

  • During the picnic, my uncle challenged me to a game of horseshoes to see who could score the highest.

Synonyms

quoits
vshorseshoes
  • UK
9.9

A game where players throw rings at a small stake in the ground

is played with U shaped iron pieces rather than closed rings

How Skillful

archery
28 3.9
darts
1 1.3
horseshoes
  • US
3.9

Surface Forms

horseshoes singular
horseshoes plural

Morphology

horseshoes = horseshoe (transparent) = horse + shoe + s

The word is the regular plural of the transparent compound 'horseshoe' (horse + shoe); the game's name derives directly from the object.

Etymology

Horseshoes comes from the simple parts horse and shoe, where a 'shoe' protects a horse's hoof. The U-shaped iron pieces used in the game look just like those horse shoes, so the game is called horseshoes.