horsed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of horse.

   The regiment was fully horsed before the campaign began.

   The boys horsed around in the locker room until the coach walked in.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty, as with any regular verb: they horsed around and they have horsed around differ only in the auxiliary. In the passive it usually means supplied with horses (the regiment was horsed). The old sense of getting on horseback is now obsolete. Where it simply describes a rider, it shades into the adjective meaning mounted.

2. 2
   adjective

   Seated or mounted on the back of a horse.

   The horsed knights formed a line across the open field.

   Several horsed scouts returned to camp with news of the enemy.

   Similarmounted

   Oppositedismounted

   Note

   An adjective older than it looks: it descends from Old English horsod, ġehorsod, the past participle of horsian, "to horse", by way of Middle English y-horsed. It usually sits before a noun, as in horsed men, and it has no degrees, because a rider is horsed or not, never more horsed. The past form of the modern verb has the same spelling but was formed separately, from horse + -ed.

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