See one-horse town on Wiktionary
{ "etymology_text": "The term “one-horse” originated as an agricultural phrase, meaning ‘to be drawn/worked by a single horse.’ This led to the use of this phrase in a metaphorical sense as something that is small or insignificant.\nCharles Dickens explained in his publication All the Year Round (1871):\n‘One horse’ is an agricultural phrase, applied to anything small or insignificant, or to any inconsiderable or contemptible person: as a ‘one-horse town,’ a ‘one-horse bank,’ a ‘one-horse hotel,’ a ‘one-horse lawyer’, [etc.]", "forms": [ { "form": "one-horse towns", "tags": [ "plural" ] } ], "head_templates": [ { "args": { "head": "one-horse town" }, "expansion": "one-horse town (plural one-horse towns)", "name": "en-noun" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "noun", "senses": [ { "categories": [ { "kind": "other", "name": "American English", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "English entries with incorrect language header", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Entries with translation boxes", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with 1 entry", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with entries", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Finnish translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with French translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with German translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Russian translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Spanish translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Swedish translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" } ], "examples": [ { "bold_text_offsets": [ [ 67, 81 ] ], "text": "It's surrounded by beautiful wilderness, but otherwise it's just a one-horse town.", "type": "example" }, { "bold_text_offsets": [ [ 72, 86 ] ], "ref": "2021 February 16, Dan Richards, “Peak cabin: a fire-spotter's lonely vantage point in Washington state”, in The Guardian:", "text": "The journey took 48 hours with a stopover in a Bates-style motel in the one-horse town of Marblemount – the last services for 70 wild miles of boscage and bears.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "A very small town, especially one of a rural nature and/or offering very few or no attractions." ], "id": "en-one-horse_town-en-noun-VAUoYahw", "links": [ [ "small", "small" ], [ "town", "town" ], [ "rural", "rural" ], [ "attractions", "attractions" ] ], "raw_glosses": [ "(US, idiomatic) A very small town, especially one of a rural nature and/or offering very few or no attractions." ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "jerkwater town" }, { "word": "one-blink town" }, { "word": "Podunk" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Isolated town" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "bump in the road" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "jerkwater" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "jerk-water" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "jerkwater town" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "one-horse town" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "wide spot in the road" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Isolated place" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "arse end of nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "back of beyond" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "back forty" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "backcountry" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "backwater" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "backwoods" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "Australia" ], "word": "beyond the black stump" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "boondock" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "boondocks" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "boonies" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "rare", "vulgar" ], "word": "bumfuck middle of nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "vulgar" ], "word": "bumfuck nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "dullsville" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "edge of the earth" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "edge of the world" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "ends of the earth" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "ends of the world" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "hinterland" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "middle of nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "north forty" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "off the beaten track" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "out of the way" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "sticks" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "the sticks" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Actual places" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "Australia" ], "word": "back o' Bourke" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Outer Mongolia" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Timbuktu" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Fictional places" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Anytown" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "BFE" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Bumblefuck" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Bumfuck" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Egypt" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Idaho" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Iowa" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Kansas" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Minnesota" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Ohio" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Buttfuck" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "East Bumfuck" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "East Jesus" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Hicksville" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Nowheresville" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Podunk" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Squedunk" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Whateverville" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "New-Zealand" ], "word": "wop-wops" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "Australia" ], "word": "Woop Woop" } ], "tags": [ "US", "idiomatic" ], "translations": [ { "code": "fi", "lang": "Finnish", "sense": "very small town", "word": "kyläpahanen" }, { "code": "fr", "lang": "French", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "colloquial", "masculine" ], "word": "bled paumé" }, { "code": "de", "lang": "German", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "neuter" ], "word": "Kuhdorf" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "zaštatnyj górod", "sense": "very small town", "word": "заштатный го́род" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "zaxolustnyj górod", "sense": "very small town", "word": "захолустный го́род" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "zaxolústʹje", "sense": "very small town", "word": "захолу́стье" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "dyrá", "sense": "very small town", "word": "дыра́" }, { "code": "es", "lang": "Spanish", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "villorrio" }, { "code": "sv", "lang": "Swedish", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "common-gender" ], "word": "byhåla" }, { "code": "sv", "lang": "Swedish", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "common-gender" ], "word": "håla" } ] } ], "sounds": [ { "audio": "En-au-one-horse town.ogg", "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bb/En-au-one-horse_town.ogg/En-au-one-horse_town.ogg.mp3", "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/En-au-one-horse_town.ogg" } ], "word": "one-horse town" }
{ "etymology_text": "The term “one-horse” originated as an agricultural phrase, meaning ‘to be drawn/worked by a single horse.’ This led to the use of this phrase in a metaphorical sense as something that is small or insignificant.\nCharles Dickens explained in his publication All the Year Round (1871):\n‘One horse’ is an agricultural phrase, applied to anything small or insignificant, or to any inconsiderable or contemptible person: as a ‘one-horse town,’ a ‘one-horse bank,’ a ‘one-horse hotel,’ a ‘one-horse lawyer’, [etc.]", "forms": [ { "form": "one-horse towns", "tags": [ "plural" ] } ], "head_templates": [ { "args": { "head": "one-horse town" }, "expansion": "one-horse town (plural one-horse towns)", "name": "en-noun" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "noun", "senses": [ { "categories": [ "American English", "English countable nouns", "English entries with incorrect language header", "English idioms", "English lemmas", "English multiword terms", "English nouns", "English terms with quotations", "English terms with usage examples", "Entries with translation boxes", "Pages with 1 entry", "Pages with entries", "Terms with Finnish translations", "Terms with French translations", "Terms with German translations", "Terms with Russian translations", "Terms with Spanish translations", "Terms with Swedish translations" ], "examples": [ { "bold_text_offsets": [ [ 67, 81 ] ], "text": "It's surrounded by beautiful wilderness, but otherwise it's just a one-horse town.", "type": "example" }, { "bold_text_offsets": [ [ 72, 86 ] ], "ref": "2021 February 16, Dan Richards, “Peak cabin: a fire-spotter's lonely vantage point in Washington state”, in The Guardian:", "text": "The journey took 48 hours with a stopover in a Bates-style motel in the one-horse town of Marblemount – the last services for 70 wild miles of boscage and bears.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "A very small town, especially one of a rural nature and/or offering very few or no attractions." ], "links": [ [ "small", "small" ], [ "town", "town" ], [ "rural", "rural" ], [ "attractions", "attractions" ] ], "raw_glosses": [ "(US, idiomatic) A very small town, especially one of a rural nature and/or offering very few or no attractions." ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "jerkwater town" }, { "word": "one-blink town" }, { "word": "Podunk" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Isolated town" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "bump in the road" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "jerkwater" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "jerk-water" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "jerkwater town" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "one-horse town" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "wide spot in the road" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Isolated place" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "arse end of nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "back of beyond" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "back forty" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "backcountry" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "backwater" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "backwoods" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "Australia" ], "word": "beyond the black stump" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "boondock" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "boondocks" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "boonies" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "rare", "vulgar" ], "word": "bumfuck middle of nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "vulgar" ], "word": "bumfuck nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "dullsville" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "edge of the earth" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "edge of the world" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "ends of the earth" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "ends of the world" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "hinterland" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "middle of nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "US" ], "word": "north forty" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "off the beaten track" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "out of the way" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "sticks" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "the sticks" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Actual places" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "Australia" ], "word": "back o' Bourke" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Outer Mongolia" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Timbuktu" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Fictional places" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Anytown" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "BFE" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Bumblefuck" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Bumfuck" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Egypt" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Idaho" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Iowa" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Kansas" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Minnesota" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Nowhere" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Ohio" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Buttfuck" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "East Bumfuck" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "East Jesus" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Hicksville" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Nowheresville" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Podunk" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Squedunk" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "word": "Whateverville" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "New-Zealand" ], "word": "wop-wops" }, { "source": "Thesaurus:remote place", "tags": [ "Australia" ], "word": "Woop Woop" } ], "tags": [ "US", "idiomatic" ] } ], "sounds": [ { "audio": "En-au-one-horse town.ogg", "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bb/En-au-one-horse_town.ogg/En-au-one-horse_town.ogg.mp3", "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/En-au-one-horse_town.ogg" } ], "translations": [ { "code": "fi", "lang": "Finnish", "sense": "very small town", "word": "kyläpahanen" }, { "code": "fr", "lang": "French", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "colloquial", "masculine" ], "word": "bled paumé" }, { "code": "de", "lang": "German", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "neuter" ], "word": "Kuhdorf" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "zaštatnyj górod", "sense": "very small town", "word": "заштатный го́род" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "zaxolustnyj górod", "sense": "very small town", "word": "захолустный го́род" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "zaxolústʹje", "sense": "very small town", "word": "захолу́стье" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "dyrá", "sense": "very small town", "word": "дыра́" }, { "code": "es", "lang": "Spanish", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "villorrio" }, { "code": "sv", "lang": "Swedish", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "common-gender" ], "word": "byhåla" }, { "code": "sv", "lang": "Swedish", "sense": "very small town", "tags": [ "common-gender" ], "word": "håla" } ], "word": "one-horse town" }
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-20 using wiktextract (3dadd05 and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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