Meaning & use
colt
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A young male horse.
Grammar: Countable: a colt and a filly.
Patterns
- a colt by someone
The colt stood up on shaky legs.
The farmer trained the colt for racing.
nouncountableinformalfigurative
A young or inexperienced person, especially in sport.
Grammar: Informal, usually of young men.
The coach called the newcomer a promising colt.
A young colt of a striker scored twice.
nouncountabletrademark
A type of revolver, from the maker's brand name.
Grammar: Capitalized as Colt in this sense.
The museum displays a Colt from the 1800s.
He collected an old Colt revolver.
Word forms
| plural | colts |
|---|
Common combinations
- young colt
- A young colt grazed in the field.
- colt and filly
- Both a colt and a filly were born.
- wild colt
- A wild colt galloped away.
- colt foal
- The mare had a colt foal.
Synonyms and how they differ
Opposites
Word family
- coltish adjective
- awkward and lively like a young horse
Commonly confused: colt or filly? colt or colt vs foal?
colt vs filly
A filly is a young female horse.
colt vs colt vs foal
A foal is any young horse; a colt is male only.
Practice
A young male horse is called a ___.
Choose one answer.
A colt is a young male horse. A filly is female, and a pony refers to size.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “colt”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.