Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A calf's skin stuffed with straw, and set beside a cow, to make her give her milk: used formerly in Scotland.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word tulchan.
Examples
-
_Tulchan_ bishops, from the _tulchan_ or effigy of a calf employed to induce cows to yield their milk.
A Short History of Scotland Andrew Lang 1878
Gammerstang commented on the word tulchan
(noun) - A calfskin stuffed with straw in the rude similitude of a calf, similar enough to deceive the imperfect perception organs of a cow. At milking time the tulchan, with head duly bent, was set as if to suck. The fond cow, looking round, fancied that her calf was busy and that all was right, and so gave her milk freely, which the cunning maid was straining in white abundance into the pail all the while. King James's Scotch bishops were, by the Scotch people, derisively called "tulchan bishops." --Thomas Carlyle's Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, 1845
February 11, 2018