one-horse town en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
The term “one-horse” originated as an agricultural phrase, meaning to be drawn or worked by a single horse. This led to the use of this phrase in a metaphorical sense as something that is small or insignificant. Charles Dickens explained in his publication All the Year Round (1871): ‘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.
Meanings
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(US, idiomatic) A very small town, especially one of a rural nature and offering very few or no attractions.
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.
2021 February 16, Dan Richards, “Peak cabin: a fire-spotter's lonely vantage point in Washington state”, in The Guardian:It's surrounded by beautiful wilderness, but otherwise it's just a one-horse town.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| one-horse towns | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Synonyms
jerkwater · Nowheresville · Fictional places · Isolated place · Isolated town · Kansas · out of the way · edge of the world · East Bumfuck · Hicksville · Whateverville · boondock · ends of the earth · Bumfuck · hinterland · backcountry · jerkwater town · Ohio · boonies · Timbuktu · Iowa · jerkwater town · Idaho · Bumblefuck · middle of nowhere · bump in the road · bumfuck middle of nowhere · Egypt · Podunk · back o' Bourke · Buttfuck · off the beaten track · beyond the black stump · north forty · sticks · Tuktoyaktuk · jerk-water · Squedunk · dullsville · back of beyond · edge of the earth · wop-wops · Actual places · wide spot in the road · Nowhere · provinces · boondocks · one-horse town · Minnesota · arse end of nowhere · BFE · back forty · backwater · Podunk · Woop Woop · backwoods · the sticks · East Jesus · ends of the world · Anytown · one-blink town · Outer Mongolia · bumfuck nowhere
Translations (11)
pl partykularz (very small town) · ru захолу́стье (very small town) · ru дыра́ (very small town) · ru заштатный го́род (very small town) · sv håla (very small town) · fi kyläpahanen (very small town) · fr bled paumé (very small town) · es villorrio (very small town) · sv byhåla (very small town) · de Kuhdorf (very small town) · ru захолустный го́род (very small town)