Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HIP-PO-CEN'TAUR, n. [Gr. ιπποκεωταυρος; ιππος, a horse, κεντεω, to spur, and ταυρος, a bull.]

In ancient fable, a supposed monster, half man and half horse. The hippocentaur differed from the centaur in this, that the latter rode on an ox, and the former on a horse, as the name imports. Encyc.