hobby horse

See also: hobbyhorse and hobby-horse

English

Alternative forms

• hobbyhorse, hobby-horse

Noun

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's head 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 m, cheval chaussette m
• Galician: cabaliño de xoguete m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Steckenpferd (de) n
• Italian: cavalluccio di legno m
• Macedonian: коњче n (konjče)
• Russian: конёк (ru) m (konjók)
• Swedish: käpphäst (sv) c

topic about which someone loves to talk

• Danish: kæphest (da) c
• Dutch: stokpaardje (nl) n
• French: dada (fr) m, violon d’Ingres (fr) m
• German: Steckenpferd (de) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: vesszőparipa (hu)
• Polish: konik (pl) m
• Russian: конёк (ru) m (konjók)
• Swedish: käpphäst (sv) c

puppet-like costume

• French: cheval-jupon (fr) m, masque-cheval m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

early bicycle

• Dutch: draisine f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: draisienne (fr) f

See also

• rocking horse