horseshoe
Americannoun
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a U -shaped metal plate, plain or with calks, nailed to a horse's hoof to protect it from being injured by hard or rough surfaces.
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something U -shaped, as a valley, river bend, or other natural feature.
We picnicked in the middle of a horseshoe of trees.
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(used with a singular verb) horseshoes, a game in which horseshoes or other U -shaped pieces of metal, plastic, etc., are tossed at an iron stake 30 or 40 feet (9 or 12 meters) away in order to encircle it or to come closer to it than one's opponent.
verb (used with object)
adjective
noun
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a piece of iron shaped like a U with the ends curving inwards that is nailed to the underside of the hoof of a horse to protect the soft part of the foot from hard surfaces: commonly thought to be a token of good luck
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an object of similar shape
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of horseshoe
Explanation
When you think of a horseshoe, don't picture a shoe with a sole and laces! Instead, a horseshoe is an arc-shaped piece of metal that gets nailed into the horse's hoof. Ever since humans started using horses for riding, pulling carts, and working on farms, they've found ways to guard their hooves against wear and injury. Horseshoes can be nailed onto the thick, fingernail-like hoof, or glued on. Some people consider horseshoes to be lucky symbols as well, while others enjoy the game called horseshoes, which involves throwing large horseshoes toward a metal stake in the ground.
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.
See Examples For:
He learned his birth mother was buried in a pauper’s grave at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Santa Rosa, with “nothing to mark her grave but an upside-down horseshoe that has her name in it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
The work was made possible by the first laboratory-grown lung cell line developed from the greater horseshoe bat.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026
"We're constantly afraid," she told AFP outside her front door, above which hung a horseshoe symbolising good luck.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
Some swear it’s a walrus mustache in the style of Wilford Brimley or Teddy Roosevelt, while others argue it’s a horseshoe version like the one worn by Hulk Hogan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
It was a wild, lonesome place, down in a deep canyon that was bent in the shape of a horseshoe.
From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson
One invented the mechanical reaper, another a machine for the mass production of horseshoes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Beyoncé's rodeo rumbled into London, bringing with it every country cliché you could think of - cowboy hats, horseshoes, tassels and even a gold mechanical bull.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2025
There’s a gentle curve to the bridge at the front of the frames and what almost looks like horseshoes on the hinges that connect the temples to the lenses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2024
In addition to horse skulls and skeletons, the team found horseshoes.
From NewsForKids.net ● Feb. 19, 2024
“Did you have a good game?” said Mrs. Stenson when we brought the horseshoes back up.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
Towering stands horseshoed around the opener at Marco Simone Country Club, creating a cauldron that the American players seemed to struggle with, and they did not win that hole in the opening 12 matches.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2025
In both cases, he has accidentally horseshoed himself into spectacularly ill-informed opinions that nonetheless capture something of the contemporary zeitgeist.
From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2024
At the Masters, he horseshoed short putts to miss the cut while Tiger Woods ground out a limping resurgence on his surgically repaired leg.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 22, 2023
During the final round of the SAS Championship, Parnevik missed a short bogey putt that horseshoed around the hole and ultimately hit his foot.
From Golf Digest ● Oct. 15, 2019
The three-times European Ryder Cup member missed the chance for a “mulligan” — golf terminology for a free shot — when his short bogey putt horseshoed around the hole and hit his foot.
From Reuters ● Oct. 13, 2019
She was driving on Highway 530, headed to a horseshoeing appointment, when the slide hit.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 17, 2024
That’s out of this world, but Casey passes up the opportunity to salvage the half, his putt horseshoeing out.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 25, 2021
“There is being in running shape and there is being in horseshoeing shape,” she said.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 20, 2015
While Deborah was pregnant we lived in South Carolina so that I could go to horseshoeing school and then back to Atlanta for the birth.
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2013
Her husband saved up his horseshoeing money and bought her freedom right after they were married.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
