river horse

American  

noun

1. a hippopotamus.

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river horse British  

noun

1. an informal name for the hippopotamus

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Etymology

Origin of river horse

First recorded in 1595–1605

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

river horse

The river horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the God Memnon.

From Oscar Wilde A Critical Study by Arthur Ransome

We should not be surprised to see him some day put out the head of a river horse; or come forth a pewit, or lapwing, some feathered metamorphosis.

From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

Then, sitting down, aware of the pleasant viridian background in Francesco’s painting, my eyes blur: I feel like I am falling asleep: then, the river horse, my Magnifico, appears inside the pigment.

From Voices from the Past by Paul Alexander Bartlett

He threw coils of the rope about the short legs of the "river horse" and down went the hippopotamus with a thud.

From Joe Strong, the Boy Fish or Marvelous Doings in a Big Tank by Vance Barnum

He read it, and in an instant the great battle, hills, river, horse, rider, shrieks, groans, all vanished from his mind as silently as a puff of white smoke from a distant cannon.

From The Choir Invisible by James Lane Allen

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