horseplay
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does horseplay mean? Horseplay is play that is physically rough or rowdy, such as kids wrestling around on the ground or splashing around and climbing on each other in a pool. Horseplay usually involves kids, and the word is usually used by adults telling them to knock it off because someone could get hurt or something could get broken. Horseplay isn’t typically intended to cause anyone harm—it’s usually just physical play that’s supposed to be fun. However, the word is typically used to refer to activity that’s perhaps a bit too rough. The word roughhousing can mean the same thing. Terms like hijinks, shenanigans, tomfoolery, and fooling around are used in similar ways, but while horseplay often involves pranks or silliness, the word always implies a physical aspect. The informal verb phrase horse around means to engage in horseplay. Horseplay actually has an adjective form that’s not commonly used but should be: horseplayful. Example: No horseplay in the dining room! I don’t want anything getting broken!
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of horseplay
Explanation
Horseplay is a rough, rowdy kind of fun. If you and your friends are jokingly pushing each other into a swimming pool, it's horseplay. Horseplay is vaguely dangerous — someone could get hurt, and that's why you might hear a teacher, babysitter, or parent yelling, "Hey, kids! Knock off the horseplay!" The origin of this word is a bit vague, although it's known to date from the 1500s, probably from the sense of a horse as a heavy, strong, rough animal.
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.
Cartoonish horseplay would have gotten a hardier laugh.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2025
Video of the horseplay prompted a good deal of online hilarity, with even the transportation department getting into the snarky act.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 3, 2024
In his stage directions, Beckett spent 195 words choreographing some horseplay involving hats.
From New York Times • Nov. 14, 2023
But we’ll need a good start, So the star learns his part, Or this horseplay could get out of hand.
From Washington Post • Aug. 18, 2022
He found the natural noise and fuss and horseplay of undergraduates horrifying, after his dream.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
