Barbed Steed (a corruption of barded)

A horse in armour. (French, bardé, caparisoned.)

“And now, instead of mounting barbëd steeds

To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,

He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber,

To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.”

Shakespeare: Richard III., act i. 1.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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