rocking horse

American  

noun

1. a toy horse, as of wood, mounted on rockers or springs, on which children may ride; hobbyhorse.

---

rocking horse British  

noun

1. a toy horse mounted on a pair of rockers on which a child can rock to and fro in a seesaw movement

---

Etymology

Origin of rocking horse

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

Set against the distant Blue Ridge Mountains, it depicts a favorite Southern activity—akin to her widely admired maple-sugaring paintings set up north—embellished with details like the tiny rocking horse on her front porch.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

"His first Christmas present was a rocking horse, for his second I got him a pony, and he's never looked back."

From BBC • Jan. 27, 2023

Among the items lost to the fire were original paintings, photographs from her childhood and an antique rocking horse that, according to family lore, Richard Nixon rode on as a baby.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2022

The five-act show also included a set consisting of mushrooms, an oversized snail, rubber ducks and a rocking horse.

From Fox News • Dec. 30, 2021

There was a handsome new rocking horse for J.B., who had worn the rockers of his old one down to nubbins.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly