ˈhorse-breaker
1. One who breaks in horses or trains them to the bridle or collar.
| 1550 Coverdale Spir. Perle vi. (1588) 66 Whan the horsse breaker geueth vnto a lusty freshe yong horsse, too much of the bridle, he is wilde and wanton. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 222 Hereupon horse-breakers..haue an art by cords to bring a horse to the like amble. 1660 R. Coke Justice Vind. 9 The most furious and robust man is not the best horse-breaker and pacer. 1864 J. Payn Sir Massingberd 58 If he had been a horsebreaker by profession, he could not have taken greater pains with the animal. |
† 2. A courtesan; a demi-mondaine; a prostitute. Freq. pretty horsebreaker. Obs.
| 1861 Times 28 June 12/4 They are, in the end, only fit for the company of ‘horsebreakers’. Ibid. 12/5 If she thinks men prefer the society of ‘pretty horsebreakers’..she never was more mistaken. 1861 Punch 13 July 13 (caption) Stout Equestrian. ‘Dou [sic] you know, love, I'm rather sorry I got this hat, for suppose I should be taken for a {oqq}pretty horsebreaker{cqq}!’ 1865 Public Opinion 30 Sept. 352/2 These demi-monde people,..horsebreakers, hetairæ..are by degrees pushing their way into ‘society’. 1865 C. Knight Shadows of Old Booksellers v. 112 He..was intimate with all the high ― (read ‘pretty horse-breakers’) in town... Some of these girls he often asked to dine with him. 1966 D. Crow Theresa xvi. 189 While Brewster's aim was to show her up as a pretty horse-breaker, hers was to proclaim her purity. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 265 The vestiges of sensual innocence hung around long enough to endow us with obsolete terms like..pretty horsebreaker. |