charley horse
UK/t͡ʃali hɔːs/US/t͡ʃɑɹli hoɹs/
charley horse noun: synonym of cramp, a painful involuntary muscle contraction, particularly a strong cramp in the torso, arms, or legs.
Noun
charley horse (plural charley horses)
- Synonym of cramp, a painful involuntary muscle contraction, particularly a strong cramp in the torso, arms, or legs.
- Several years ago, says the Chicago Tribune, Joe Quest, now of the Athletics, gave the name of ‘Charlie horse’ to a peculiar contraction and hardening of the muscles and tendons of the thigh, to which base ball players are especially liable from the sudden starting and stopping in chasing balls, as...1886 July 17, Boston Globe, page 5
- Of course there had been plenty of bruises—one mild case of charley-horse, several dislocated or sprained fingers, a wrenched ankle or two and any number of cuts and scrapes, […]1914, Ralph Henry Barbour, Left End Edwards
- Synonyms:
- cramp
- A punch in the thigh.
- I knew to just keep my mouth shut about it — unless I wanted the word "dummy" to be followed by a charley horse.2006, Joe L. Kincheloe, The Praeger Handbook of Urban Education, volume 1, page 324
charley horse meaning in Bengali and Indonesian
charley horse in Bengali
- উরুতে একটি ঘুসি মারা
charley horse in Indonesian
- a muscle cramp, usually in the thigh or leg
- tikus-tikus
Synonyms of charley horse
Forms of charley horse
| plural | charley horses |
|---|---|
| alternative form | charlie horse |
| alternative form | charley-horse |
| alternative form | charleyhorse |
| alternative form | Charlie horse |
| alternative form | Charley horse |
| alternative form | Charlie-horse |
| alternative form | Charley-horse |
Origin of charley horse
Uncertain, although first attested in American baseball slang of the 1880s, possibly related to cramps suffered by the pitcher Charles Gardner Radbourn, who was nicknamed "Old Hoss", or possibly from period use of Charlie as a generic name for horses similar to Rover for dogs and Felix for cats.
Words formed from charley horse
- charley-horsed
Questions about charley horse
- What does charley horse mean?
- Charley horse means synonym of cramp, a painful involuntary muscle contraction, particularly a strong cramp in the torso, arms, or legs.
- What is charley horse in Bengali?
- Charley horse in Bengali is উরুতে একটি ঘুসি মারা. See Charley horse meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is charley horse?
- Charley horse is a noun.
- How do you pronounce charley horse?
- Charley horse is pronounced /t͡ʃɑɹli hoɹs/ (US).
- What is the plural of charley horse?
- The plural of charley horse is charley horses.
Words near charley horse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: charley horse (page history and authors); charley horse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-charley horse.ogg.
Cite this entry: “charley horse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/charley_horse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.