kelpie — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A malevolent shapeshifting spirit, most often in the form of a horse, believed to haunt the rivers and lochs of Scotland.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   He was a boy in form, and an antediluvian in feature. Some thought he was a mule, between a Jew and an ape; some a wizard, some a kelpie, or a fairy, but most of all, that he was really and truly a Brownie.

2. An Australian breed of sheepdog.

   Examples

   There was no sound but the endless noise of forest and river, and the sleep-whimper of his kelpie.

   Gulls scatter before the blur of my insane kelpie.

Noun

1. (Scottish folklore) water spirit in the form of a horse that likes to drown its riders

   Synonyms

   kelpy

   Broader terms

   evil spirit

2. an Australian sheepdog with pointed ears

   Broader terms

   shepherd dogsheepdogsheep dog