charley horse
3
6.7
- noun
- /ˈtʃɑrli hɔrs/
- US
:
calambre
- During my workout, I experienced a sharp pain in my calf, and I realized I had a charley horse.
- getting a charley horse
- charley horse in my leg
Examples
-
-I got a charley horse.
-
- You know, I had a charley horse once.
-
I still have a charley horse.
-
-I'm getting a charley horse!
-
I've got a charley horse.
-
After running for an hour, I suddenly felt a painful cramp in my thigh that I recognized as a charley horse.
-
If you push yourself too hard during exercise, you might end up with a charley horse in your leg.
Synonyms
7
3.4
A sudden tight movement of a muscle that hurts or feels uncomfortable
A sharp pain when a muscle suddenly tightens
Antonyms
How Painful
Surface Forms
Morphology
charley + horse
The parts 'charley' (a proper name) and 'horse' (an animal) give no semantic cue to a sudden muscle cramp; the expression is idiomatic and historically opaque. A B1 learner who knows both words would likely interpret it as a name or animal reference rather than a cramp, so the meaning cannot be derived from the constituents.
Etymology
Charley horse may come from an old workhorse called Charley that limped or kicked when it was sore; baseball players and others used the image of that stiff, painful horse. People compared their sudden, sharp muscle pain to the horse, so the name came to mean 'a sudden, painful muscle cramp'.