† 1. The hippopotamus. Obs.
1398, 1572, 1600. [see HIPPOPOTAMUS].
1601. Holland, Pliny, IX. xii. I. 242. Some [water beasts] have a skin over them, and the same hairie, as the Seales and Water-horses [L. hippopotami].
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, IV. (1704), 425/2. In the Lake of Zembre … there are Water-Horses, and Water-Oxen.
2. A fabled water-spirit appearing in the form of a horse. Cf. KELPIE.
1800. Leyden, Tour Highlands (1903), 13. The people of the vale had been a good deal alarmed by the appearance of that unaccountable being the water horse (Each Uisge).
1807. Hogg, Mountain Bard, Mess John, lxiii., note. In some places of the Highlands of Scotland, the inhabitants are still in continual terror of an imaginary being, called The Water Horse.
1893. in S. O. Addy, Hall of Waltheof, 85. ‘The nick,’ a fabulous water-goblin mostly appearing in the shape of a gray water-horse.
1903. Bradford Antiq., July, 343. A water-horse or sprite that demands at least one life annually.
3. (See quot.)
1792. G. Cartwright, Jrnl. Labrador, III. p. x. Water-horse, newly washed codfish, which are laid upon each other to drain before they are spread to dry.
