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

Example Sentences

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 Bartlett, Paul Alexander

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

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

It is out of the idolatrous dotings of the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, that you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bakehouses the pyramids.

From Moby Dick: or, the White Whale by Melville, Herman

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 Ransome, Arthur

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 Barnum, Vance