coach horse

a horse, usually strong and heavily built, for drawing a coach.

QUIZZES

Even if you can't be a professional chef, you can at least talk like one with this vocabulary quiz.

Question 1 of 9

You may have read the word "simmer" in a recipe or two, but what does it really mean?

First recorded in 1580–90

And I shall begin with our familiar and unsavoury old friend, the Devil's Coach-horse.
The Strand Magazine, Volume XVII, February 1899, No. 98.|Various
The scientific name of the dardaol is "ocypus olens," in English he is sometimes called the "devil's coach-horse."
Legends of Saints & Sinners|Douglas Hyde
But the Devil's Coach-horse makes it serve a double purpose.
The Strand Magazine, Volume XVII, February 1899, No. 98.|Various
They might just as well have settled that he was a coach-horse, and could just as easily have called him one.
A Child's History of England|Charles Dickens

Of course, however, it is just these insect-eating birds that the Devil's Coach-horse has most to fear from.
The Strand Magazine, Volume XVII, February 1899, No. 98.|Various