draught-horse

A farmer guides a draught-horse pulling a plough through a field.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A horse used for pulling heavy loads: A "draught-horse" is a large, strong horse bred and trained to pull carts, plows, wagons, or other heavy equipment, rather than for riding or racing.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The farmer relied on his draught-horse to plow the fields each spring. (A horse used for pulling agricultural equipment.)
  • In the city, draught-horses were once common for hauling goods through the streets. (Horses used for transport of heavy items.)

Advanced Usage

• "draught-horse work": Refers to heavy, laborious tasks requiring strength and endurance, similar to the work done by such a horse.
  • Moving all the furniture upstairs was draught-horse work. (Very tiring, heavy manual labor.)

Variants and Related Words

• Draught (n): The act of pulling or drawing a load; also a current of air.

  • The cart was designed for draught. (For pulling heavy loads.)

• Horsepower (n): A unit of power, historically based on the strength of a draught-horse.

  • The engine produces 200 horsepower. (A measure of power equivalent to the strength of many draught-horses.)

Synonyms

• Workhorse: A horse used for labor, or metaphorically a person or machine that does a lot of hard work.
• Cart horse: A horse specifically used for pulling carts.
• Dray horse: A horse used for pulling a dray, a low, flat cart for heavy loads.

Related Idioms

• "Strong as a draught-horse": Very strong.

  • He is as strong as a draught-horse, able to lift heavy boxes all day. (Extremely physically powerful.)

• "Work like a draught-horse": To work very hard without complaint.

  • She works like a draught-horse from dawn to dusk on the farm. (Toils tirelessly at demanding tasks.)