shanks' mare
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.88 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "A public exhibition of the velocipede [a predecessor of the bicycle] ... will never come into general use in competition with Shank's mare."
- "“Well! Well! Here's Aunt Cannie. Waiting for your car?” “No suh, Mr. Henry. Shank's mare is plenty good fer me. I been ridin' dis ol' mare for more'n a hund'ed years.”"
- "Once they take to Shanks' mare, they are all equal."
- "The last thing we'd want to be seen doing...is using shanks mare, even though the day is holding up well."
Etymology
Believed to be Scottish in origin and derives from shanks' nag (shanks-naig 1774), referring to the use of shank to refer to the part of the human leg between the knee and ankle. One theory cites "shank's mare" derived from a horse-drawn lawn mower, manufactured by Shanks & Company Ltd. (founded 1853) which required that the human operator walk behind the device to guide the horse; however, references to the phrase in Scottish literature pre-date the existence of the Shanks lawn mower.
Usage
- American usage
- Countable
- Uncountable