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Hobby Horse
Hobby Horse, form of animal impersonation common to many folk festivals throughout Europe, and particularly popular in England, the most famous being the Hooden Horse of Kent, the Old Hoss of Padstow, in Cornwall, and the Minehead Soulers' Horse. It is probably a survival of the primitive worshipper dressed in the skin of a sacrificial animal, and usually appears as a wicker framework in the shape of a horse covered with a long green cloth which conceals the legs of the man animating it. It can, however, be merely a carved horse's head attached to a long stick, in which form it has always been a popular toy for children. The Hobby Horse usually accompanies the morris dance, and is often found in the mumming play. In the Mascarade of La Soule a horse is the chief character, and dies and is resurrected in token of the return of spring after the death of winter.
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Hobby Horse." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Hobby Horse." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-HobbyHorse.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Hobby Horse." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-HobbyHorse.html |
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hobby horse
hobby horse a model of a horse or a horse's head, typically of wicker, used in morris dancing or pantomime; traditionally, the framework was fastened about the waist of one of the morris dancers, so that the hobby horse became one of the characters.
Hobby here represents a pet form of the given name Robin, originally in the sense ‘a small horse or pony’. |
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "hobby horse." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "hobby horse." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-hobbyhorse.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "hobby horse." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-hobbyhorse.html |
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hobby horse
hobby horse
•coarse, corse, course, divorce, endorse (US indorse), enforce, force, gorse, hoarse, horse, morse, Norse, perforce, reinforce, sauce, source, torse
•Wilberforce • workforce • packhorse
•carthorse • racehorse • sea horse
•hobby horse • Whitehorse
•sawhorse, warhorse
•clothes horse • shire horse
•workhorse • racecourse • concourse
•intercourse • watercourse
•outsource
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Cite this article
"hobby horse." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "hobby horse." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-hobbyhorse.html "hobby horse." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-hobbyhorse.html |
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