Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One of the principal performers in a morris-dance, having a figure of a horse made of wickerwork supported about his waist, and his feet concealed by a housing. He performed antics imitating the motions of a horse, and various juggling tricks.
- n. A person who acts in a foolish, subservient manner.
- n. A wooden figure of a horse, usually provided with rockers, for children to ride on.
- n. A favorite pursuit or topic: now commonly hobby. See hobby, n., 3.
- n. A kind of velocipede; the draisine.
Wiktionary
- n. alternative spelling of hobby horse.
Examples
“In fact, I'll go further: in the European context, there have been a number of open linkages between neo-Nazi parties like Vlaams Belang and conservatives whose main hobby-horse is Islamism.”
“Tatton ParkThe Hunting Of The Earl Of Rone, Ilfracombe, Fri to 30 MayJoin the fool, grenadiers, drummers, hobby-horse and, maybe, donkey, for raffle, cake and costumed processions in a bizarre local folklore custom.”
“While Cowen's agenda reflects some broad libertarian-leaning economist ideas, Hacker's is more specific to his personal hobby-horse, which is that trends are piling Big Risk onto The Little Guy, and We need to Do Something.”
Fantasy Agendas, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“However, staying off my hobby-horse (check my blog, I dare ya), none of these resources addresses the issue of disrupted control systems or damaged equipment on the grid.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » If you like the BP spill, you’ll love cyberwar
“However, staying off my hobby-horse (check my blog, I dare ya), none of these resources addresses the issue of disrupted control systems or damaged equipment on thegrid.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » If you like the BP spill, you’ll love cyberwar
“I was hoping Matt would post about her instead of his hobby-horse.”
“And what if, beyond all these big principles the French love to ride as their hobby-horse, they drew inspiration, as suggested by MRT, from their Belgian neighbors 'pragmatism, addressing the burqa issue with a mere law on security:”
Global Voices in English » France: Secularity, Required for Democracy and Human Rights
“Harman repeats her initial argument about the tax and benefits system contributing to this imagined stemming, ignoring conveniently that both penalise work and contribute to inequality - considering it's her hobby-horse she's spectacularly ill-informed.”
“He is, alas, still riding the old 19th century hobby-horse that loves to find a pagan origin in every Christian ceremony.”
“Even the comment boards here have seen mention of my little hobby-horse SIRC.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hobby-horse’.
-
POL - cool compounds
scaremongering, facelifting, mudslinging, gerrymandering, goldplating, muscleflexing, headway, pinpointing, hobby-horse, barnstorming, grandfathering, finger-wagging and 31 more...
-
imogen's Words
coagitate, cloche, harum-scarum, foxglove, cryptolect, cant, roux, angora, duff, ulysse, schadenfreude, pepperpot and 315 more...
-
This List Could Choke a Horse
horse-drawn, horse chestnut, horseless carriage, saddle horse, light horse, pommel horse, horsepower, hobbyhorse, hobby-horse, rocking horse, iron horse, flying horse and 82 more...
-
Great Shakespeare words, usually refe...
The words and phrases Billy S uses to describe the act of live and those who partake too often are delicious.
-
Evoke films/plays
hobby-horse, quietus, sardonic, ethos, parlance, coitus, loverly
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hobby-horse.
andrew.simone Then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year: but, by'r lady, he must build churches, then; or else shall he suffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is 'For, O, for, O,the hobby-horse is forgot.' -Hamlet: III, ii
'For, O, for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot' is a composition by Harrison Birtwistle for a Chamber Ensemble sans voices.
A similar quote appears in Love's Labor's Lost. I do not know the significance of the quote. Dec 9, 2006