horseshoe

horseshoe
—horseshoer, n.
/hawrs"shooh', hawrsh"-/, n., v., horseshoed, horseshoeing, adj.
n.
1. a U-shaped metal plate, plain or with calks, nailed to a horse's hoof to protect it from being injured by hard or rough surfaces.
2. something U-shaped, as a valley, river bend, or other natural feature: We picnicked in the middle of a horseshoe of trees.
3. horseshoes, (used with a sing. v.) a game in which horseshoes or other U-shaped pieces of metal, plastic, etc., are tossed at an iron stake 30 or 40 ft. (9 or 12 m) away in order to encircle it or to come closer to it than one's opponent.
v.t.
4. to put a horseshoe or horseshoes on.
adj.
5. having the shape of a horseshoe; U-shaped: a horseshoe bend in the river.
[1350-1400; ME. See HORSE, SHOE]

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      U-shaped metal plate by which horses' hooves are protected from wear on hard or rough surfaces. Horseshoes apparently are a Roman invention; a mule's loss of its shoe is mentioned by the Roman poet Catullus in the 1st century BC.

      The density and insensitivity of the hoof makes it feasible to attach shoes securely by nailing. The craft of the smith, or blacksmith, the process of forging and affixing horseshoes, became one of the great staple crafts of medieval and modern times and contributed to the development of metallurgy.

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Universalium. 2010.

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