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

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

“End of the Rainbow” was rudimentary as a play, but Rader doesn’t even have Quilter’s dramatic horse sense.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2017

Independent women with choices stand as a factual refutation to the watery stew of evolutionary psychology, macho posturing, and LAN party horse sense that these groups subsist on.

From The Guardian • May 14, 2015

She didn’t know what Dodger and his horse sense knew.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz