Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
singletree

singletree

9.9
A horizontal bar that attaches a working animal to a cart or plow and shares the pull
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪŋɡlˌtri/
  • Specialized
translation icon : barra de tiro
  • To pull the plow efficiently, the team of horses was connected with a singletree.

Examples

  • She could pull it, that is, if she didn't kick the singletree to pieces, break the reins, and buck off half her harness while you were getting the tugs fastened.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Elder let fall the merest glance at the two pieces of the singletree and then looked point-blank at the man himself as if surprised not only by his presence but by his existence.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • A small sharp-faced man smoking a cob pipe was waiting, holding out a broken singletree for Elder's inspection as he passed on his way back to the forge.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The farmer attached the horse to the wagon using a sturdy singletree for better load distribution.

  • The blacksmith repaired the broken singletree so that the draft animal could work properly again.

Synonyms

swingle
vssingletree
  • Archaic
9.9

A wooden bar that joins and balances the harness straps of two animals pulling a cart

is the general horizontal bar that attaches animals and balances and distributes pull
whippletree
vssingletree
  • Specialized
9.9

A bar that pivots in the middle to spread a horse's pull across a wagon

is the horizontal bar concept without emphasizing a central pivot

Surface Forms

singletree singular
singletrees plural

Morphology

singletree = single + tree (semi-transparent) = single + tree

The compound structure 'single' + 'tree' is clear, but 'tree' here has a specialized/archaic sense 'wooden bar' that is not obvious to an average learner.

Etymology

Singletree comes from the parts single ('one') and tree, an old word for a wooden bar or beam used on carts, so you can picture a single wooden seesaw that can move to share the pull. So a singletree is the one bar in a harness that links a horse or ox to a cart and helps balance and spread the load.