Word.ws English Dictionary

drum horse

drum horse noun: a horse that carries a rider and two silver kettle drums in certain ceremonies of state.

drum horse: a horse that carries a rider and two silver kettle drums in certain ceremonies of state
Image: Ultra7, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

drum horse (plural drum horses)

  1. (UK) A horse that carries a rider and two silver kettle drums in certain ceremonies of state.
    • The soul of the Regiment lives in the Drum-Horse who carries the silver kettle-drums. He is nearly always a big piebald Waler. That is a point of honour; and a Regiment will spend anything you please on a piebald.1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Rout of the White Hussars”, in Plain Tales from the Hills
    • “Alexander,” The Life Guards' drum horse, kindly lent for the occasion, carried the 5th Lancer's silver kettle-drums draped with the 16th Lancer's drum banners.1963, Cyril Nelson Barclay, History of the 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers, 1925-1961, page 194
  2. A breed of heavy riding horse with thick main and tail and abundant feathers starting at the knees and hocks.
    • The Queen, whose profound knowledge of the breeding of horses is well known, became interested in breeding drum-horses in recent years and has provided some to the Household Cavalry and has further potential stock at Hampton Court.1993, William Lloyd, Challengers and Chargers: A History of the Life Guards, 1945–92, page 74
    • Inspections for licensing of stallions are the same for both the Drum Horse and Gypsy Cob.2009, The Official Horse Breeds Standards Guide, page 381

Examples of drum horse in a sentence

  • A drum horse called Apollo would not behave, skittering sideways determinedly.6 May 2023, Rachel Cooke, “It was ludicrous but also magnificent: the coronation stirred every emotion”, in The Guardian:
  • There are very few of them in the world, and it is very rare to see Drum Horses, whose antecedents are also small in number.2017, Élise Rousseau, Horses of the World, page 55:

Forms of drum horse

pluraldrum horses

Questions about drum horse

What does drum horse mean?
Drum horse means a horse that carries a rider and two silver kettle drums in certain ceremonies of state.
How do you use drum horse in a sentence?
A drum horse called Apollo would not behave, skittering sideways determinedly.
What part of speech is drum horse?
Drum horse is a noun.
What is the plural of drum horse?
The plural of drum horse is drum horses.

Words near drum horse in the dictionary

  1. drum chart
  2. drum fill
  3. drum fills
  4. drum head
  5. drum heads
  6. drum horse
  7. drum horses
  8. drum into
  9. drum kit
  10. drum kits
  11. drum machine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drum horse (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.

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