colt

See also: Colt and colț

English

A mare and colt.

Etymology

From Middle English colt, from Old English colt (“young donkey, young camel”), from Proto-Germanic *kultaz (“plump; stump; thick shape, bulb”), from Proto-Indo-European *gelt- (“something round, pregnant belly, child in the womb”), from *gel- (“to ball up, amass”). Cognate with Norwegian kult (“treestump”), Swedish kult (“young boar, boy, lad”). Related to child.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɒlt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəʊlt/, /kɔʊlt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /koʊlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊlt

Noun

colt (plural colts)

1. A young male horse.
2. A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, I. ii. 38:

     Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but / talk of his horse, and he makes it a great appropriation to / his own good parts that he can shoe him himself.

3. (nautical) A short piece of rope once used by petty officers as an instrument of punishment.

Derived terms

• colt's tooth

Translations

young male horse

• Albanian: mëz (sq)
• Armenian: մտրուկ (hy) (mtruk), քուռակ (hy) (kʿuṙak)
• Aromanian: mãndzu m
• Bulgarian: жребче (bg) m (žrebčé)
• Catalan: poltre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 駒 (zh), 驹 (zh) (jū) (colt of filly), 駒子 (zh), 驹子 (zh) (jūzi), 小雄馬, 小雄马 (xiǎo xióng mǎ)

• Czech: hříbě (cs) n
• Dutch: hengstveulen n
• Faroese: koltur n
• Finnish: varsa (fi), orivarsa
• French: poulain (fr) m
• Galician: poldro (gl)
• German: Hengstfohlen n, männliches Fohlen n, männliches Füllen n, Hengstfüllen n
• Ido: kavalyunulo (io)
• Irish: bromach m
• Italian: puledro (it) m
• Japanese: 雄の子馬 (osu no ko-uma)
• Latgalian: kumeļs m
• Latin: equuleus m
• Latvian: kumeļš m
• Lithuanian: kumeliukas m
• Macedonian: ждребе n (ždrébe)
• Malay: kuda jantan muda

• Maltese: mohor m, felu m
• Megleno-Romanian: mǫndz m
• Navajo: łéʼéyázhí
• Norwegian: hingstføll n
• Polish: źrebak (pl) m, ogierek m
• Portuguese: potro (pt) m, poldro (pt) m
• Romanian: mânz (ro) m
• Russian: жеребёнок (ru) m (žerebjónok) (colt of filly), жере́бчик (ru) m (žerébčik)
• Scottish Gaelic: capall m, bromach m, loth f, lothag f, searrach m, biorach(-eich) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ждребе n, ждријебе f (colt of filly)

  Roman: ždrebe (sh) n, ždrijebe (sh) n (colt of filly)

• Slovene: žrebe (sl) n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: žrěbc m

• Spanish: potranco m, potro (es) m
• Taos: kòw’ȕ’úna
• Turkish: tay (tr)
• Ukrainian: лоша n (lošá)
• Volapük: (♂♀) jevodül (vo), (♂) hijevodül (vo), (♀) jijevodül (vo)
• Welsh: ebol (cy) m
• Wolof: mol mi
• Zazaki: estor

novice

• French: jeunot (fr) m
• Portuguese: novato (pt) m, noviço (pt) m

• Romanian: novice (ro) m, f, începător (ro) m

rope

• Russian: линёк (ru) m (linjók)

Verb

colt (third-person singular simple present colts, present participle colting, simple past and past participle colted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To horse; to get with young.
   • 1610, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Cymbeline, II. iv. 133:

     Never talk on't: / She hath been colted by him.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To befool.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, II. ii. 36:

     What a plague mean ye to colt me thus?

3. To frisk or frolic like a colt; to act licentiously or wantonly.
   • Spenser

     They shook off their bridles and began to colt.

See also

• stallion, mare, foal, filly, horseling

References

• colt in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• clot