the.com/thoroughbred
A horse bred for one job: go fast, break hearts, occasionally break legs.
means A horse (or by extension, anything) of pure, carefully traced pedigree bred specifically for speed and racing performance.
from From 'thorough' (complete, utter) plus 'bred' — literally 'bred all the way through.' The word crystallized around the English horse-racing world, tied to the Thoroughbred breed descended almost entirely from a handful of foundation sires brought from the Middle East in the late 1600s and early 1700s, their bloodlines tracked obsessively in studbooks ever since. The sense soon galloped beyond horses, into 'thoroughbred' as praise for anything — or anyone — of flawless, pedigreed quality.
- origin
- all descend from 3 stallions, 1600s
- bloodline proof
- every studbook traces to Darley Arabian
- fragility
- massive bodies on surprisingly thin ankles
- career length
- peak racing age is just 3 to 5