Saddle

Saddle, sad′l, n. a seat or pad, generally of leather, for a horse's back: anything like a saddle, as a saddle of mutton, veal, or venison—a butcher's cut, including a part of the backbone with the ribs on one side: a part of the harness used for drawing a vehicle: the seat on a bicycle: (naut.) a block of wood fastened to some spar, and shaped to receive the end of another spar.—v.t. to put a saddle on, to load: to encumber.—n. Sadd′le-back, a hill or its summit when shaped like a saddle: a raccoon oyster: the great black-backed gull: the harp-seal: a variety of domestic geese: the larva of the bombycid moth: (archit.) a coping thicker in the middle than at the edges.—adj. Sadd′le-backed, having a low back and an elevated head and neck.—ns. Sadd′le-bag, one of two bags united by straps for carrying on horseback; Sadd′le-bar, a bar for sustaining glass in a stained-glass window; Sadd′le-blank′et, a small blanket folded under a saddle; Sadd′le-bow, the arched front of a saddle from which the weapon often hung; Sadd′le-cloth, the housing or cloth placed under a saddle.—n.pl. Sadd′le-feath′ers, the long slender feathers which droop from the saddle or rump of the domestic cock.—ns. Sadd′le-girth, a band passing round the body of a horse to hold the saddle in its place; Sadd′le-horse, a horse suitable for riding; Sadd′le-joint, a joint made in plates of sheet-iron so that the margins interlock: (anat.) a joint admitting movement in every direction except axial rotation; Sadd′le-lap, the skirt of a saddle; Sadd′le-plate, the bent plate which forms the arch of the furnace in locomotive steam-boilers; Sadd′le-quern, an ancient quern for grinding grain; Sadd′ler, a maker of saddles: the harp-seal; Sadd′le-rock, a variety of the oyster; Sadd′le-roof, a roof having two gables; Sadd′ler-cor′poral, a non-commissioned officer in the household cavalry, with the charge of the saddles; Sadd′ler-ser′geant, a sergeant in the cavalry who has charge of the saddlers: (U.S.) a non-commissioned staff-officer of a cavalry regiment; Sadd′lery, occupation of a saddler: materials for saddles: articles sold by a saddler.—adjs. Sadd′le-shaped, shaped like a saddle: (bot.) bent down at the sides: (geol.) bent down at each side of a ridge; Sadd′le-sick, galled with much riding.—ns. Sadd′le-tree, the frame of a saddle.—Put the saddle on the right horse, to impute blame where it is deserved. [A.S. sadol, sadel; cf. Dut. zadel, Ger. sattel.]