Other forms: horseshoes
A horseshoe is the curved iron plate nailed to a hoof. Cast a horseshoe, a lucky horseshoe, nail on the horseshoe.
The nails go into the hoof wall, which has no feeling, so shoeing does not hurt — but a nail in the wrong place does, and that is the farrier's whole skill. A horseshoe over a door is said to bring luck, and the argument about which way up is unresolved.
1nounhorseshoeThe curved iron plate nailed to a hoof.
“The blacksmith nailed a new horseshoe onto the horse's hoof.”
horseshoe is a fitting.
Horse plus shoe, a compound recorded from Middle English.
Middle English
horsscho
English, today
horseshoe
+ sandwich From Middle English horsscho. by surface analysis, horse + shoe.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA