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Glite Dictionary
whippletree

whippletree

9.9
A bar that pivots in the middle to spread a horse's pull across a wagon
  • noun
  • Specialized
: yugo
  • The blacksmith made a new whippletree for the farmer's wagon.

Examples

  • Each whippletree was carefully balanced to ensure equal effort from all the horses.

  • A broken whippletree can make it hard for horses to pull a heavy load evenly.

  • The farmer repaired the whippletree on his cart.

  • Many whippletrees are made of durable wood.

  • A broken whippletree can make it hard for horses to pull a heavy load evenly.

  • Each whippletree was carefully balanced to ensure equal effort from all the horses.

  • The blacksmith made a new whippletree for the farmer's wagon.

Synonyms

singletree
vswhippletree
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A horizontal bar that attaches a working animal to a cart or plow and shares the pull

sits on a middle pivot to spread force evenly across traces
whiffletree
vswhippletree
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A bar that connects a horse to a cart and spreads the load

sits on a central pivot to distribute pulling force across traces
swingletree
vswhippletree
  • Archaic
9.9

A bar that connects a working horse's harness to a cart to spread the pulling force

sits on a middle pivot to spread force evenly between traces and vehicle

Surface Forms

whippletree singular
whippletrees plural

Etymology

The word whippletree names the wooden crossbar that spreads the pull from horses to a wagon so each animal shares the work. A helpful way to remember it is to see whipple- as from an old word meaning 'to swing' and -tree as 'wood' or 'beam', so it is the beam that swings to share the animals' pull.