pony

See also Pony

English

Wikipedia

New Forest pony (1)

Etymology 1

1659 from Scots powny, apparently from French poulenet (“little foal”) (15th c.), ultimately from Late Latin pullanus (“young of an animal”) (cognate to English foal).

Noun

pony (plural ponies)

1. Any of several small breeds of horse under 14.2 hands.
2. (regional) A small serving of an alcoholic beverage.
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 193:

     Demon popped into his mouth a last morsel of black bread with elastic samlet, gulped down a last pony of vodka and took his place at the table with Marina facing him across its oblong length.

   • 2010, Dick Lynas, Pies Were for Thursdays: Tales from an Ordinary Glasgow East End Childhood, page 283,

     I did not even know what a ‘pony’, a small chaser of beer, was. But of course I could not admit that. So putting on an air of nonchalance, and a deep voice, I strolled into a pub with one of the other equally naive guys and we ordered two ponies of beer.

     ‘McEwans?’ asked the barman.

     ‘Naw - ponies’ said I.

3. (Australia, New South Wales, Victoria) A serving of 140 millilitres of beer.
4. (UK, slang) Twenty-five pounds sterling.
5. (US, slang) A translation used as a study aid; loosely, a crib, a cheat-sheet.
6. (Cockney rhyming slang) (from "pony and trap") Crap; rubbish, nonsense.

Synonyms

• horseling

Derived terms

dog and pony show play the ponies polo pony pony and trap pony express

pony glass pony keg pony up Shetland pony

Translations

small horse

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 矮種馬 (cmn), 矮种马 (cmn) (ǎizhǒngmǎ)

• Czech: poník (cs) m
• Dutch: pony (nl) m
• Finnish: poni (fi)
• French: poney (fr) m
• German: Pony (de) n
• Hungarian: póni (hu)
• Irish: pónaí (ga) m
• Japanese: 子馬 (ja) (こうま, kouma), 仔馬 (ja) (こうま, kouma), 小馬 (ja) (こうま, kouma)
• Jèrriais: pônîn m

• Latin: caballio (la) m
• Lojban: lo cmaxi'a
• Macedonian: пони (mk) (póni) n
• Malay: kuda padi (ms)
• Polish: kuc (pl) m
• Portuguese: pônei (pt) m
• Russian: пони (ru) m (poni)
• Spanish: poni (es) m, caballito (es) m
• Swedish: ponny (sv) c
• Volapük: jevodil (vo), (obsolete) smajeval (vo), (obsolete) jevalil (vo)
• Welsh: merlen (cy) f, merlod (cy) pl

Verb

pony (third-person singular simple present ponies, present participle ponying, simple past and past participle ponied)

1. (transitive) To lead (a horse) from another horse.

Etymology 2

Shortened from pony and trap, rhyming with crap

Adjective

pony (comparative ponier, superlative poniest)

1. (Cockney rhyming slang) Of little worth.

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Italian

Etymology

English

Noun

pony m (invariable)

1. pony (young horse)
2. pony express