Houyhnhnm
[hoo-in-uh m, hwin-uh m, win-]
- (in Swift's Gulliver's Travels) one of a race of horses endowed with reason, who rule the Yahoos, a race of degraded, brutish creatures having human form.
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Origin of Houyhnhnm
1726; apparently echoic; cf. whinny
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for houyhnhnm
Historical Examples
Imagine yourself reading a number of the Houyhnhnm Gazette, giving an account of such an experiment.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-TableOliver Wendell Holmes
Houyhnhnm, whin′im, n. one of the noble rational horse race in Gulliver's Travels.
The Houyhnhnm's legs are very well; the horse slipped on his side and not on his knees, and has received no sort of injury.
The NewcomesWilliam Makepeace Thackeray
No end to the wild pranks, the Houyhnhnm horse-play they had with drunken Gundling.
History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Volume V. (of XXI.)Thomas Carlyle
Amid the inextinguishable horse-laughter (sincere but vacant) of the Houyhnhnm Olympus.
History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Volume V. (of XXI.)Thomas Carlyle
Word Origin and History for houyhnhnm
Houyhnhnm
1727, in "Gulliver's Travels," coined by Swift to suggest whinnying.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper