Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as whiffle tree.

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

  • noun 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.
  • noun (Bot.) The cornel tree.

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

  • noun a wooden crossbar for a plough or carriage, pivoted in the middle, from which traces are fastened to a draught animal

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

  • noun a crossbar that is attached to the traces of a draft horse and to the vehicle or implement that the horse is pulling

Etymologies

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

[Perhaps blend of dialectal whippin, whippletree and swingletree.]

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Examples

  • The colter needed sharpening and there was a crack in the whippletree.

    The Boat of a Million Years Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1989

  • The colter needed sharpening and there was a crack in the whippletree.

    The Boat of a Million Years Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1988

  • After three quarters of an hour or so I was suddenly startled alert by hearing the squeak-squeak of a whippletree out on the lawn.

    The Four Pools Mystery Jean Webster 1896

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