to horse-race

1 4.1

To ride a horse in a race to try to win

phrasal verb

: correr caballos

Training every day allows him to horse-race more competitively.
horse-race track

Me and him learn how to horse race in in Vegas.

Examples

To prepare for the championship, they decided to horse-race on the best tracks.
Me and him learn how to horse race in in Vegas.

The 85 South Comedy Show
She hopes to horse-race at the upcoming event this summer.

Synonyms

to race

vsto horse-race

167 1.0

To take part in a contest to be fastest or make someone take part

is specific to competing while riding an animal rather than any speed contest

to jockey

vsto horse-race

1 7.3

To ride horses in races as a job

is for any participant, including the animal or unpaid riders

to boat-race

vsto horse-race

3.8

To take part in a contest in boats to see who is fastest

is about competing while riding an animal, not using water vessels

Antonyms

to withdraw

466 2.8

To stop taking part in a place or activity

Surface Forms

horse-race infinitive

horse-raced past

horse-raced past participle

horse-racing present participle

horse-races third person singular

Morphology

horse-race = horse + race (transparent) = horse + race

The meaning is directly compositional: a horse-race is literally a race involving horses.

Etymology

Horse-race combines horse and race, where race means 'a fast run' or 'contest', so picture horses running hard to win. To horse-race is simply to compete on horseback in that running contest.