hobby horse

English

Alternative forms

• hobbyhorse, hobby-horse

Noun

Wikipedia

A child with a hobby horse (2).

A man with a hobby horse (4).

hobby horse (plural hobby horses)

1. (originally) The Irish hobby, an extinct breed of horse.
2. A child's toy consisting of a (usually wooden or cloth) horse mounted on a stick.
3. (figuratively) A topic about which someone loves to talk at great length.

   Don't ask him about global warming: it's his favourite hobby horse, you'll never get away.

4. A puppet-like costume used in some traditional dances and festivals that gives its wearer the appearance of a man on horseback.
5. An early bicycle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne.

Translations

child's toy

• Danish: kæphest (da) c
• Dutch: stokpaard (nl) n, stokpaardje (nl) n
• Finnish: keppihevonen (fi)
• French: dada (fr) m, cheval bâton (fr) m, cheval chaussette (fr) m

• German: Steckenpferd (de) n
• Macedonian: коњче (mk) (kónjče) n
• Russian: конёк m
• Swedish: käpphäst (sv) c

topic about which someone loves to talk

• Danish: kæphest (da) c
• Dutch: stokpaardje (nl) n
• French: violon d'Ingres (fr) m

• German: Steckenpferd (de) n
• Swedish: käpphäst (sv) c

puppet-like costume

early bicycle

• Dutch: draisine (nl) f

• French: draisienne (fr) f

See also

• rocking horse