seahorse

Or sea horse

[see-hawrs]

noun

1. any fish of the genus Hippocampus, of the pipefish family, having a prehensile tail, an elongated snout, and a head bent at right angles to the body.

2. a fabled marine animal with the foreparts of a horse and the hind parts of a fish.

3. a walrus.

Word History and Origins

Origin of seahorse¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English sehors, possibly meaning “walrus”; compare German Seeross; sea ( def. ), horse

Example Sentences

Last night, Lauper got a new tattoo of a seahorse on her arm.

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It said the site supported specialised communities of animals, seaweeds and the rare short-snouted seahorse.

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Creating marine protected areas for Australian seahorses, for example, had meant more of them were eaten as their natural predators' populations had increased.

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Thanks to diligent observers, seahorses, those enigmatic and charismatic fish, are not only being discovered in new habitats and expanded geographic ranges, they are also being found at new ocean depths.

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Talia Greis, from Australia, won Macro, with an abstract portrait of a potbelly seahorse in the murky waters near Bare Island, Sydney.

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