colts

Noun

colt (plural colts)

1. A young male horse.
   • The petty vices of boys are like the innocent kicks of colts, as yet imperfectly broken.1857, Herman Melville, chapter XXII, in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade
2. A young crane (bird).
3. (figuratively) A youthful or inexperienced person; a novice.
   • Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but / talk of his horse, and he makes it a great appropriation to / his own good parts that he can shoe him himself.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   1. (figuratively, slang) A professional cricketer during his first season.
      • The bowling is more promising in the colts than in the eleven.1882, The Downside Review, volume 1, page 287
   2. (figuratively, obsolete, slang) A person who sits as a juryman for the first time.
4. (historical) A short piece of rope once used by petty officers as an instrument of punishment.

See all 17 meanings of colt