colt
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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]
From Middle English colt, from Old English colt, 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 Faroese koltur (“colt, foal”) Norwegian kult (“treestump”), Swedish kult (“young boar, boy, lad”). Related to child.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (UK) IPA(key): /kəʊlt/, [kɔʊlt], (also) /kɒlt/
- (US) IPA(key): /koʊlt/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -əʊlt
Noun[edit]
colt (plural colts)
- A young male horse.
- Coordinate term: filly
- A young crane (bird).
- (figuratively) A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii], line 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.
- (cricket, slang) A professional cricketer during his first season.
- 1882, The Downside Review (volume 1, page 287)
- The bowling is more promising in the colts than in the eleven.
- 1882, The Downside Review (volume 1, page 287)
- (nautical) A short piece of rope once used by petty officers as an instrument of punishment.
- (biblical) A young camel or donkey.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
young male horse
|
novice
Verb[edit]
colt (third-person singular simple present colts, present participle colting, simple past and past participle colted)
- (obsolete, transitive) To horse; to get with young.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iv], line 133:
- Never talk on't: / She hath been colted by him.
- (obsolete, transitive) To befool.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene ii], line 36:
- What a plague mean ye to colt me thus?
- To frisk or frolic like a colt; to act licentiously or wantonly.
- 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], OCLC 606546850; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, OCLC 22906028:
- They shook off their bridles and began to colt.
Synonyms[edit]
- (to act licentiously or wantonly): See Thesaurus:harlotize
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- colt in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Further reading[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
French[edit]
Noun[edit]
colt m (plural colts)
- Colt (gun)
Further reading[edit]
- “colt”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old English colt, from Proto-Germanic *kultaz.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
colt (plural coltes)
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- “colt, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-12.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/əʊlt
- Rhymes:English/əʊlt/1 syllable
- English lemmas
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- en:Cricket
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- en:Nautical
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- en:Baby animals
- en:Cranes (birds)
- en:Horses
- en:Male animals
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- enm:Baby animals
- enm:Equids
- enm:Horses