English

Noun

river horse ‎(plural river horses)

1. (poetic) hippopotamus
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 1

     It is out of the idolatrous dotings of the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, that you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bake-houses the pyramids.

   • 1849, Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

     Liverpool started and snorted like a river-horse roused among his reeds by thunder.

Synonyms

• hippopotamus

Translations