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Bucephalus

American  
[byoo-sef-uh-luhs] / bjuˈsɛf ə ləs /

noun

  1. the horse used by Alexander the Great on most of his military campaigns.


Bucephalus British  
/ bjuːˈsɛfələs /

noun

  1. the favourite horse of Alexander the Great

"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

Etymology

Origin of Bucephalus

C17: from Latin, from Greek Boukephalos , from bous ox + kephalē head

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin as the famous detective during his younger years, Mamma Mia actor Firth plays Sir Bucephalus Hodge, the dean of Oxford University, where Holmes is a porter.

From BBC Mar. 6, 2026

Colin Firth plays Sir Bucephalus Hodge, a bigwig whose exact credentials escape me, but who’s giving the university a new science building.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 3, 2026

Not written poetry, or doggerel comparing every allowance-race winner to Shadowfax or Bucephalus, but the aesthetic intensity one experiences in the presence of the inexplicable.

From Time May 3, 2013

Riding Bucephalus at the head of a great army, he conquered the lands from Greece to the Indus Valley.

From Textbooks Jan. 1, 2012

The Old Berkeley shall find, If I don't go precisely as fast as the wind, If they'll give my Bucephalus time to take breath, We shall both of us, sometimes, be in at the death!

From Mr. Punch in the Hunting Field by Various

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