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plow horse

plow horse

3 4.0
A horse that pulls a plow on a farm
  • noun
  • /plaʊ hɔrs/
  • Archaic
translation icon : caballo de arado
  • See here, you're not a plow horse.

Examples

  • You were supposed to buy a plow horse!

  • My old woman was riding a plow horse in Kentucky when it come my turn.

  • I thought you needed a plow horse, Mr. Narracott.

  • Even a sturdy plow horse would never manage it alone.

  • Teams of plow horses pulled the wagons, and Yoren had bought two coursers and a half-dozen donkeys for the boys.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • He came plodding up to the palace of the princess on a plow horse, and he brought her a small tin box filled with mica, feldspar, and hornblende, which he had picked up on the way.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The farmer relied on his strong plow horse to help him cultivate the fields each spring.

  • Every year, the community gathers to celebrate the role of the plow horse in traditional farming.

  • In the past, families used a plow horse to prepare their land for planting crops.

Synonyms

draft horse
vsplow horse
  • US
1 3.8

A large strong horse that pulls heavy loads like a cart or plow

is specifically used for pulling a tilling implement in field work
workhorse
vsplow horse
1 3.4

A strong horse used to pull heavy loads on a farm

focuses specifically on pulling for field work rather than all heavy tasks
draft animal
vsplow horse
  • US
1 3.9

An animal like a horse or ox that pulls heavy loads on a farm

is specific to an animal used mainly for pulling a tilling implement in fields
farm horse
vsplow horse
1 1.8

A strong calm horse that works on a farm

is meant mainly for pulling field tillage rather than general farm jobs
cart horse
vsplow horse
1 3.2

A strong horse used to pull carts or heavy loads

is used especially for pulling field tillage rather than transport work
carthorse
vsplow horse
1 7.7

A large strong animal that pulls heavy carts or wagons

focuses on pulling implements for field work rather than road transport
drayhorse
vsplow horse
  • Archaic
1 9.6

A large strong horse used to pull heavy carts or wagons

is used mainly for pulling in agricultural tillage rather than hauling goods
shire horse
vsplow horse
5.9

A very large strong British horse used to pull heavy loads like carts

is the general term for an animal used for pulling in field work

Surface Forms

plow horse singular
plow horses plural
plough horses plural
plough horse singular

Morphology

plow + horse

The compound 'plow horse' is a transparent noun–noun composition: combining 'plow' (a farming implement) with 'horse' yields a horse used with a plow. This straightforward compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The noun plow horse comes from the simple picture of a strong horse pulling a heavy plow across a field. These steady animals did the hard daily work on farms, so the name came to mean 'a horse used for pulling a plow'.