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I am reading 'Black Beauty' by Anna Sewell. (1877)

What would be the meaning of 'came in warm' in the below paragraph?

"Jerry kept us very clean, and gave us as much change of food as he could, and always plenty of it; and not only that, but he always gave us plenty of clean fresh water, which he allowed to stand by us both night and day, except of course when we came in warm. Some people say that a horse ought not to drink all he likes; but I know if we are allowed to drink when we want it we drink only a little at a time, and it does us a great deal more good than swallowing down half a bucketful at a time, because we have been left without till we are thirsty and miserable."

Is it an expression no longer in use?

I've never come across this kind phrase in modern English.

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warm is modifier of the subject "we". It refers to the state of the subject upon coming in. To "come in" is to return indoors from being outdoors. There warm probably means "overheated" (e.g. from work or exercise in the sun).

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  • It was simple as that, but I misunderstood at the beginning. Thanks anyway.
    – Jay Lee
    Commented Jul 25, 2018 at 19:16
  • @Jay Lee: I am not sure what you mean by "at the beginning".
    – TimR
    Commented Jul 25, 2018 at 19:28
  • Non-native English speaker sometimes get the meaning of phrases completely differently from native-speaker. That's what I mean.
    – Jay Lee
    Commented Jul 26, 2018 at 6:18

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