hobbyhorse

[ hob-ee-hawrs ]

noun

1. a stick with a horse's head, or a rocking horse, ridden by children.
2. a figure of a horse, attached at the waist of a performer in a morris dance, pantomime, etc.
3. a pet idea or project.

hobbyhorse

/ ˈhɒbɪˌhɔːs /

noun

1. a toy consisting of a stick with a figure of a horse's head at one end
2. another word for rocking horse
3. a figure of a horse attached to a performer's waist in a pantomime, morris dance, etc
4. a favourite topic or obsessive fixed idea (esp in the phrase on one's hobbyhorse )

verb

1. intr nautical (of a vessel) to pitch violently

Word History and Origins

Origin of hobbyhorse¹

First recorded in 1550–60; hobby ¹ + horse

Word History and Origins

Origin of hobbyhorse¹

C16: from hobby ¹, originally a small horse, hence sense 3; then generalized to apply to any pastime

Example Sentences

Spanning 40 feet, it’s a riff on a hobbyhorse, but with a horned goat’s head.

From Washington Post

You can get “money, Nobels… celebrity for any cause or hobbyhorse….”

From The Daily Beast

Obama came out for medical malpractice reform, a GOP hobbyhorse roughly forever (although the devil is in the details).

From The Daily Beast

That you must carry everyone with you, swelling the ranks, is a hard-ridden Wasp hobbyhorse.

From The Daily Beast

He laid hold of it and109 drew it out and set down on the faint rug of light a small wooden hobbyhorse.

From Project Gutenberg

It was Malcolm's hobbyhorse, dappled gray, the tail and the mane missing and the paint worn off—and tenderly licked off—his nose.

From Project Gutenberg

While he went within doors he had left the hobbyhorse in the snow, close to the wall; and he came back there to wait.

From Project Gutenberg

There he saw a spring hobbyhorse, as large as a Shetland pony, all saddled and bridled, too—lacking nothing but a rider.

From Project Gutenberg

They were smaller than the tiniest hobbyhorse that has ever been seen, as small almost as the toy horses in a "Noah's ark."

From Project Gutenberg