hold one's horses

verb

"hold-one-s-horses" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hold one's horses” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To be patient; to wait.

Key facts for hold one's horses
PropertyValue
Headwordhold one's horses
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “hold one's horses” sits in English frequency

hold one's horses falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hold one's horses is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for hold one's horses in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is hold one's horses, spelled H-O-L-D- -O-N-E-'-S- -H-O-R-S-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    To be patient; to wait.
  2. 2
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hold, one's, horses.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hold one's horses"?
"hold one's horses" is spelled H-O-L-D- -O-N-E-'-S- -H-O-R-S-E-S.
What does "hold one's horses" mean?
As a verb, "hold one's horses" means: To be patient; to wait.
What language does "hold one's horses" come from?
"hold one's horses" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “hold one's horses”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is H-O-L-D- -O-N-E-'-S- -H-O-R-S-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list