horse trade

¹

noun

1. a shrewdly conducted exchange, as of favors or objects, usually resulting from or accompanied by very close bargaining.

2. an exchanging or trading of horses.

horse-trade

²

[hawrs-treyd]

verb (used without object)

horse-traded, horse-trading 

1. to bargain or trade shrewdly.

Word History and Origins

Origin of horse trade¹

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Origin of horse trade²

An Americanism dating back to 1820–30

Example Sentences

“It’s really a new page in the horse trade.”

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The governor, House speaker and Senate president “still do horse trade,” said John Hallman, legislative director of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida, a conservative advocacy group.

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“A Rocky Mountain trade chain had carried horses to the Northwestern Plains by the 1730s. … The horse trade ignited a technological revolution that reconfigured several Indigenous worlds within a generation.”

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That’s why any deal could have a huge impact on researchers, because it boils down to a political horse trade.

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The researchers saw the robustness of the bones decline in the early 16th century, which would coincide with a decline in the British horse trade.

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Related Words

• agree 
• arrange 
• confer 
• consult 
• debate 
• haggle 
• handle 
• mediate 
• settle 
• work out