whippletree

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • n whippletree a crossbar that is attached to the traces of a draft horse and to the vehicle or implement that the horse is pulling
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • Whippletree (Bot) The cornel tree.
    • Whippletree The pivoted or swinging bar to which the traces, or tugs, of a harness are fastened, and by which a carriage, a plow, or other implement or vehicle, is drawn; a whiffletree; a swingletree; a singletree. See Singletree. "People] cut their own whippletree in the woodlot."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n whippletree Same as whiffle tree.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • Whippletree . See Whiffletree.
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
See Whip, and cf. Whiffletree

Usage

In literature:

The 'whippletree' had broken.
"The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 2, August, 1863" by Various
He sends me for firewood and when I gits it loaded, de wheel hits a stump and de team jerks and dat breaks de whippletree.
"Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves" by Work Projects Administration
Manuel put his cowboy escort to work, but it was a difficult job, with one of the whippletrees splintered.
"When the Owl Cries" by Paul Bartlett
Twelve "Swingle trees" (whippletree, whiffletree, singletree) are listed in the inventory.
"The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia" by C. Malcolm Watkins
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Related words