WARHORSE

warhorse

(noun) horse used in war

warhorse

(noun) a work of art (composition or drama) that is part of the standard repertory but has become hackneyed from much repetition

veteran, old-timer, oldtimer, old hand, warhorse, old stager, stager

(noun) an experienced person who has been through many battles; someone who has given long service

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

warhorse (plural warhorses)

(historical) Any horse used in horse-cavalry, but especially one bearing an armored knight.

• As he spoke, the knight-errant, who had remounted his warhorse, galloped forward to the royal stand, with a silken kerchief bound round his wounded arm. — Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company, Chapter 26.

(theater, music) A regularly revived theatrical or musical work, as with Hamlet or a Beethoven symphony, or as excerpts thereto. May imply that the work in question has become hackneyed.

• "Srinath: India's warhorse" (headline from BBC News)

Source: Wiktionary