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Glite Dictionary
😒 Moody and silent 🏇 A racing cart
sulky

sulky

9.9
A light two-wheeled vehicle pulled by one horse for harness races
  • noun
  • /ˈsəlkē/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sulky
  • He skillfully maneuvered his horse and sulky around the curve to gain an advantage.
  • a two-wheeled sulky
  • horse struck the sulky
  • wheeled sulky

Examples

  • At night, sometimes we went to Sportsman's Park, where Lefty would stake me so that I could bet on the sulkies.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The horse galloped ahead, pulling the sulky swiftly around the track during the race.

  • NUTSY: Come on, Sulky Bill!

    Blinky Bill the Movie (2015)

  • "Sulky, about to cry.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • (sulky)

    Fiction book (1991)

  • During the competition, each driver took great care of their sulky to ensure peak performance.

Synonyms

shay
vssulky
  • Archaic
2 9.9

A light two-wheeled carriage with a folding roof for one horse to pull

lacks a folding top and is built for racing use
gig
vssulky
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A light two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse

is for a single rider and used mainly for racing
roadster
vssulky
  • Archaic
8.3

A small, light carriage pulled by one horse for one person

is used especially for racing rather than for general travel

Compounds

sulky demeanor
7.1

A quiet unhappy mood that shows on a person's face or in their body language

How Big

coach
75 1.3
wagon
88 1.0
carriage
100 4.7
buggy
  • Archaic
24 6.7
sulky
  • Specialized
9.9

Surface Forms

sulky singular
sulkies plural

Morphology

sulky = sulky (opaque) = sulk + y

The noun is historically linked to the adjective 'sulky', but the vehicle meaning is a specialized extension that is not recoverable from the adjectival meaning alone.

Etymology

Sulky for the small racing cart probably comes from the same idea as the word sulk 'to be silent and upset', because a sulky is a one-seat vehicle for a single driver and so the name helps you remember it is for one person.