pony express

See synonyms for pony express on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a former system in the American West of carrying mail and express by relays of riders mounted on ponies, especially the system operating (1860–61) between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.

Origin of pony express

1
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Words Nearby pony express

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pony express in a sentence

  • It was during the sixties that the telegraph was established across the continent, following in the track of the pony express.

  • When the first call came for volunteers by way of the pony express, Benito and Adrian talked of enlisting.

    Port O' Gold | Louis John Stellman

British Dictionary definitions for pony express

pony express

noun
  1. (in the American West) a system of mail transport that employed relays of riders and mounts, esp that operating from Missouri to California in 1860–61

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Pony Express

Pony Express

A system of mail service by relays of riders on horses, established in 1860 between Missouri and California, through the Rocky Mountains. It operated for only a year and a half, until a telegraph line eliminated the need for it.

Notes for Pony Express

An early advertisement for Pony Express riders is well known: “Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.”

Notes for Pony Express

Buffalo Bill (see also BuffaloBill) Cody and Wild Bill Hickok were Pony Express riders in their youth.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.