horse sense

American  

noun

1. common sense.

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horse sense British  

noun

1. another term for common sense

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horse sense Idioms  

1. Sound practical sense, as in She's got too much horse sense to believe his story. The exact allusion in this term, which dates from the mid-1800s, is disputed, since some regard horses as rather stupid. However, they tended to be viewed more positively in the American West, where the term originated.

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Etymology

Origin of horse sense

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Example Sentences

I’m not saying she was Stephen Hawking, but she at least evinced a sort of horse sense, paired with grinning charisma, that you could imagine might make her an effective mayor or governor.

From Slate • Feb. 10, 2022

One might say they figured it just made good horse sense.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2020

More likely, it was something in American Pharoah’s horse sense that told him the man in the suit was a weak specimen.

From Washington Post • Sep. 16, 2019

The ex-Rangers, reclassified as highway patrolmen for their new mission, prefer to rely on horse sense and cowboy folk wisdom.

From New York Times • Mar. 14, 2019

The estimates provide a good example of how numerical horse sense can check pseudoscientific ravings.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos