Brewer's: 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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