▪ I. † horse-marine1 Her. Obs.
[f. horse n. + marine a.]
A sea-horse.
| 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4162/4 On a Torse a Demy Horse-Marine. |
▪ II. horse-marine2
(ˈhɔːsməˈriːn)
[f. horse n. + marine n.]
1. A marine mounted on horseback, or a cavalryman doing a marine's work.
| 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 225 This old sea-dog..organized a body of horse-marines to patrol the shore. 1886 Tinsley's Mag. Apr. 321 The 17th Lancers were once christened the ‘Horse marines’. Two troops of this showy corps were employed as marines on board the Hermione frigate during some severe fighting in the West Indies. |
2. humorously. (pl.) An imaginary corps of mounted marine soldiers, considered as a type of men out of their element; hence, sing. a man doing work for which he is not fitted; a ‘landlubber’ on shipboard. Phr. tell that to the horse marines: a colloquial expression of incredulity. Cf. marine n. 4 c.
| 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxi, ‘What the devil has a ship to do with horse's furniture?—Do you think we belong to the horse-marines?’ 1860 O. W. Holmes Sea Dial. 45 Belay y'r jaw, y' swab! y' hoss-marine! 1892 Wops the Waif i. 1 (Farmer) You'd better tell that to the hoss marines; I've lived a sight too long in Shoreditch to take that in. 1921 W. S. Maugham Circle ii. 65 Elizabeth: He's never even kissed me. Arnold: I'd try telling that to the horse marines if I were you. |
3. ‘A man or youth who is engaged in leading and attending to the horse drawing a canal-boat’ (Lab. Comm. Gloss. 1894).
| c 1850 [Correspt. writes ‘In general use on Regent's Canal’.] c 1860 [Used by a witness at the Lindsey Sessions, Lincolns.]. 1881 Census-returns in Brit. Alm. Comp. (1885) 94. |