Definitions

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

  • noun A leather strap looped under a horse's tail and attached to a harness or saddle to keep it from slipping forward.
  • noun The rump of a horse; the croup.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The buttocks of a horse; the rump.
  • noun A. strap of leather which is buckled at one end to the back of a saddle, or to the saddle of a harness, and at the other passes by a loop under the horse's tail, to prevent the saddle from slipping forward. Also crouper. See cut under harness.
  • noun Nautical, the train-tackle bolt in a gun-carriage.
  • To put a crupper on: as, to crupper a horse.

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

  • transitive verb To fit with a crupper; to place a crupper upon.
  • noun The buttocks or rump of a horse.
  • noun A leather loop, passing under a horse's tail, and buckled to the saddle to keep it from slipping forwards.

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

  • noun A strap used to stop a saddle from slipping.
  • noun The buttocks or rump, especially of a horse.
  • noun A piece of armour covering the hindquarters of a horse.
  • verb To fit with a crupper; to place a crupper upon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a strap from the back of a saddle passing under the horse's tail; prevents saddle from slipping forward

Etymologies

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

[Middle English crouper, from Old French cropiere, from croupe, rump; see croup.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Anglo-Norman cropere, from Old French cropiere, from the same Germanic base as croup.

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Examples

  • Perched behind him on the crupper was a cheetah, a gilded collar around its neck, a chain of silver links running between it and the groom's hand.

    The Falcons of Montabard Chadwick, Elizabeth 2004

  • All the arguments which I have heard adduced against the doctrine here laid down would also go to prove that a horse cannot fall which has a bearing-rein and a crupper, that is, whose head is tied to his tail.

    Hints on Horsemanship, to a Nephew and Niece or, Common Sense and Common Errors in Common Riding George Greenwood 1837

  • His back is less straight, and there is a dip behind the withers and a rounding of the crupper which is more like the shape of the horse; his neck also is more erect and arched than that of the ass.

    Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Robert Armitage Sterndale 1870

  • His horse's armor matched Jermayan's exactly, from shanfron to crupper.

    Tran Siberian Michael J. Solender 2010

  • Someone cannoned into us, and then as I pulled myself by main force across the crupper I felt a sudden shock, and Ilderim pitched over me and out of the saddle.

    Fiancée 2010

  • "Whose, then?" says I, genially, and laid a hand on his crupper.

    Fiancée 2010

  • My feet hit the ground, but I had hold of his bridle, and for a few yards I was literally dragged along, with Ilderim above hauling to get me across the crupper.

    Fiancée 2010

  • It's not a crupper (loop that anchors the back of the harness down that runs around and under the dock (root) of the tail).

    Oslo Grand Prix: Horserse Cosmo7 2009

  • Each dragoon to furnish himself with a serviceable horse, at least fourteen hands and an half high, a good saddle, bridle, mail-pillion and valise, holster, and a best plate and crupper, a pair of boots and spurs; a pair of pistols, a sabre, and a cartouchbox to contain twelve cartridges for pistols.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Supreme Court Agrees To Decide Whether the Second Amendment Applies to the States 2009

  • The Indians had copied saddles, stirrups, the crupper, and the lariat from the Spanish explorers, who, in turn had borrowed these innovations from the Moors Arabic people from North Africa, who had previously occupied Spain for 500 years.

    Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995

Comments

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  • In addition to the definition above, this was a piece of armor that protected a horse's hindquarters. See croupiere.

    November 8, 2007

  • Used in Sir Burton's translation of "The Perfumed Garden" to mean "ass". Now, if that doesn't get you jamaican love...

    April 30, 2009

  • Ha!

    April 30, 2009