horse of a different color

noun pl. horses or horse

1. a domesticated or wild, perissodactylous mammal (Equus caballus), raised in many breeds, having a large body and head, four usually long, thin legs, and a long, flowing tail: horses have been ridden, used to pull loads, etc. since ancient times
2. the full-grown male of the horse; gelding or stallion
3. anything like a horse in that a person sits, rides, or is carried on it
4. a device, esp. a frame with legs, to support something; specif.,
   1. sawhorse
   2. a clotheshorse
5. a man regarded as resembling a horse, as in having great strength or endurance: sometimes used as a general term of address
6. Chess, Informal a knight
7. ☆ Informal pony (sense )
8. Slang
   1. horsepower (sense )
   2. horsepower (sense )
   3. ☆ heroin
9. Gym. a padded block on legs, used for vaulting events
10. Mil., Brit. mounted troops; cavalry
11. Mining a mass of earth or rock inside a vein or coal seam

Origin: ME hors < OE hors, hros, akin to Ger ross (OHG hros), prob. < IE base *(s)ker-, to leap (or < ? *ers-, to run > L cursus)

transitive verb horsed, horsing

1. to supply with a horse or horses; put on horseback
2. 1. to place on a man's back or a wooden horse for flogging
   2. to flog
3. Informal to shove; push
4. ☆ Slang to subject to horseplay

intransitive verb

adjective

1. of a horse or horses
2. mounted on horses
3. large, strong, or coarse of its kind: horse mackerel