warhorse

noun

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

   “Just within the inner edge of the circle stood a soldier, in the military attire of a strange nation; and without it was his warhorse, in the center of a collection of mounted domestics, seemingly in readiness to undertake some distant journey.”

   “As he spoke, the knight-errant, who had remounted his war-horse, galloped forward to the royal stand, with a silken kerchief bound round his wounded arm.”

2. (figuratively, informal)An experienced person who has been through many battles, situations or contests; someone who has given long service.

   “Near-synonym: workhorse”

   “Among other accidents of that year was a Democratic president. Judge Atwood was a warhorse of Democracy.”

   “Certainly this was a bold proposal to an old warhorse like Ecuyer, and, like a true English bulldog, he voiced a reply which made the Indians wince.”

   ““I don't know. I never notice much. Oh, they do kid me about not being in the army—especially the old warhorses, the old men that aren't going themselves. And this Bogart boy. And Mr. Hicks's son—he's a horrible brat. But probably he's licensed to say what he thinks about his father's hired man!””

   “Srinath: India's warhorse [title]”

3. 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.

   “a Wagner warhorse”

   “I remember taking the old warhorse, “Una Voce Poco Fa,” from Il Barbiere (Rossini) to three of the greatest living singing masters in Italy.”

   “Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo[…] presented a typical program of Russian warhorses of the 19th and early 20th centuries[…]”

   “A Mendelssohn Warhorse Gets the Perlman Treatment [title]”

   “[…] the ROH mounts a new production of an Italian repertory warhorse that is fully on the level of the one it replaces […”