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Glite Dictionary
🧓 An experienced person 🐎 A battle horse 🎼 An overused classic
warhorse

warhorse

1 8.0
A familiar play or musical piece that is performed so often it feels old
  • noun
  • /ˈwɔrˌhɔrs/
  • Literature
translation icon : clásico
  • The theater company decided to feature an additional production of the beloved warhorse "Hamlet" to attract more audiences this season.
  • old warhorse

Examples

  • Cameroonian dinner theaters that tout the old warhorses.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Many people consider Beethoven's Fifth Symphony a recognizable warhorse of classical music that is played in concerts worldwide.

  • The annual ballet often includes a performance of the classic warhorse "Swan Lake" to please longtime fans.

Antonyms

fresh
306 1.0

New and not used before

original
250 3.6

New and different, not copied from others

Compounds

old warhorse
  • Informal
1 6.9

An experienced reliable person who has worked in a job for a long time

How Overused

warhorse
  • Literature
1 8.0
popular
∞ 1.0
standard
675 2.7

Surface Forms

warhorse singular
warhorses plural

Morphology

warhorse = war + horse (opaque) = war + horse

The meaning 'an overused standard repertoire piece' is a further idiomatic/metaphorical shift from the literal compound and is not deducible from 'war' + 'horse'.

Etymology

Warhorse can mean a play or music piece that is performed again and again until it feels familiar or tired. A helpful way to remember this is to think of an old battle horse seen in many fights: it is familiar but worn, so a warhorse in the arts is a well-known but often overused piece.