Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One of the metal rings on a harness through which the reins pass.
  • noun A ring on an animal's collar, used for attaching a leash.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the round loops or rings on a harness-pad through which the driving-reins pass. See cuts under harness and pad-tree.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of the rings on the top of the saddle of a harness, through which the reins pass.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One of the rings on the top of the saddle of a harness, through which the reins pass.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English teret, variant of toret, from Old French, diminutive of tour, tor, a round; see tour.]

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Examples

  • Aut suadendo blanditur, aut minando terret, sometimes by fair means, sometimes again by foul, as he perceives men severally inclined.

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • Hominem te agnoscere nequeo, cum tanquam asinus recalcitres, lascivias ut taurus, hinnias ut equus post mulieres, ut ursus ventri indulgeas, quum rapias ut lupus, &c. at inquis formam hominis habeo, Id magis terret, quum feram humana specie videre me putem.

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • And by him that spake only as a philosopher, and natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors ipsa.

    The Essays 2007

  • Combined sleigh bell and terret ring, H.M. Richmond 11,027

    Scientific American, Volume 40, No. 13, March 29, 1879 A Weekly Journal of Practical Information, Art, Science, Mechanics, Chemistry, and Manufactures Various

  • Deinde signo dato undique simul clamor ingens oritur; neque ea res Numidas terret, infensi intentique sine tumultu manent; proelium incipitur.

    C. Sallusti Crispi De Bello Catilinario Et Jugurthino 86 BC-34? BC Sallust

  • And by him that spake only as a philosopher and natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors ipsa [It is the accompaniments of death that are frightful rather than death itself].

    II. Of Death 1909

  • Potentem censes qui satellite latus ambit, qui quos terret ipse plus metuit, qui ut potens esse uideatur, in seruientium manu situm est?

    The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius 1908

  • There's a heading you've got for one of your chapters, a quotation from some Latin author, which I can't place to my satisfaction; I mean that one beginning "_Non terret principes_."'

    The Giant's Robe F. Anstey 1895

  • And by him that spake only as a philosopher and natural man, it was well said, _Pompa mortis magis terret quam mors ipsa.

    From Chaucer to Tennyson 1886

  • Only one side of the shafts was supported by the harness, and we did not stop to fasten the hold-back straps, nor to put the lines through the terret, nor tie the hitching strap.

    Twenty Years of Hus'ling 1885

Comments

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  • A part of a harness.

    According to Chris Cole in Wordplay, the longest (among five others) "uncommon word" palindrome beginning with letter 't'.

    June 2, 2008