hobby horse vs skate

hobby horse

noun
  • The Irish hobby, an extinct breed of horse. 

  • A topic about which someone loves to talk at great length. 

  • A child's toy consisting of a (usually wooden or cloth) horse's head mounted on a stick. 

  • A puppet-like costume used in some traditional dances and festivals that gives its wearer the appearance of a man on horseback. 

  • An early bicycle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne. 

skate

noun
  • A worn-out horse. 

  • The act of roller skating or ice skating 

  • A mean or contemptible person. 

  • A runner or blade, usually of steel, with a frame shaped to fit the sole of a shoe, made to be fastened under the foot, and used for gliding on ice. 

  • A fish of the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea (rays) which inhabit most seas. Skates generally have small heads with protruding muzzles, and wide fins attached to a flat body. 

  • The act of skateboarding 

verb
  • To move smoothly and easily. 

  • To use the skating technique. 

  • To get away with something; to be acquitted of a crime for which one is manifestly guilty. 

  • To move along a surface (ice or ground) using skates. 

  • To skateboard. 

adj
  • Pertaining to the technique of skating. 

How often have the words hobby horse and skate occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )