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Glite Dictionary
🛋️ Leather from cows 🐄 A leather whip 🥲 To whip
cowhide

cowhide

1 5.3
A heavy whip made from braided cow leather used to move cattle
  • noun
  • /ˈkaʊhaɪd/
  • Archaic
translation icon : látigo
  • His young wife braids long bands of cowhide into bullwhips and attaches them to clean pine handles.

Examples

  • You see, the... the cowhide whip is braided with metal balls and bone fragments.

    The Case for Christ (2017)

  • The cowboy expertly cracked his cowhide whip to herd the cattle back into the pen.

  • Samantha bought a sturdy cowhide whip for her horseback riding lessons.

  • In the theater production, the villain used a cowhide whip to intimidate the hero.

Synonyms

hide
vscowhide
134 4.1

The skin of an animal used to make leather

is a specific braided whip made from leather rather than general skin
rawhide
vscowhide
10 6.7

Animal skin not turned into leather that people use to make ropes or whips

is a finished braided leather whip rather than raw, untanned material
bullhide
vscowhide
  • Archaic
9.0

A whip made from a bull's skin used to drive animals

is a braided flexible leather whip rather than a simple tough strap

How Soft

chinchilla
3 6.8
mink
11 4.6
sheepskin
6 3.9
cowhide
  • Archaic
1 5.3

Surface Forms

cowhide singular
cowhides plural

Morphology

cowhide = cow + hide (semi-transparent) = cow + hide

Components 'cow' and 'hide' are clear, but the sense referring specifically to a whip made from cowhide is a metonymic extension and less predictable for learners.

Etymology

The word cowhide can also mean a heavy whip made from leather because people braided the tough cow hide, the 'cow skin', into a strong whip. So, a cowhide in this sense is a leather whip often used on ranches.