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  1. quirt love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A riding whip with a short handle and a lash of braided rawhide.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A kind of riding-whip much used in the western parts of the United States and in Spanish-American countries. It usually consists of a short stout stock, a few inches long, of wood, or of leather braided so tightly as to be rigid, and of a braided leather lash, about two feet long, flexible and very loosely attached to the stock. The quirt thus resembles a bull-whip in miniature. It is sometimes entirely braided of leather, like a small black-snake, but so as then to make a short rigid handle and long flexible lash. The quirt is often ornamented fancifully, and generally hung on the right wrist by a leather loop.
  2. To strike or flog with a quirt.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide.
  2. v. To strike with a quirt.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. whip with a leather thong at the end

Etymologies

  1. From Spanish cuerda ‘cord’, or Mexican Spanish cuarta ‘whip’. (Wiktionary)
  2. Probably from American Spanish cuarta, whip, ultimately from Latin quārta, fourth; see quart. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “There he found his father at the table, braiding rawhide strands to make a riding whip called a quirt.”

    Simon & Schuster: Plain Language

  • “Mexican saddle, cinched it tight without mercy, then mounted with a slam over of a leather-trousered leg, let the almost crazy horse go like the wind, and if he slackened his speed, spurs or "quirt," perhaps both, drove him on again.”

    Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871-1888

  • “This scene may relate to an incident in which Rain-in-the-Face is said to have saved the daughter of the Upper Yanktonai Black Prairie Dog by extending his quirt to her and swinging her up onto his horse when their camp was attacked by the U.S. Army.”

    The Huffington Post: Lee Rosenbaum: Native Americans, Brooklyn-Style: Family-Friendly, Deeply Informative "Tipi" Show

  • “Forrest lifted his right hand, the quirt dangling from wrist, the straight forefinger touching the rim of his Baden Powell in semi-military salute.”

    CHAPTER II

  • “A Baden Powell hat and a quirt completed his appareling — ­the quirt, Indian-braided of rawhide, with ten ounces of lead braided into the butt that hung from his wrist on a loop of leather.”

    CHAPTER I

  • “The horse didn't live, after it had once learned the lesson, that would whirl in the face of the doubled quirt.”

    Chapter XII

  • “Daylight, with doubled quirt ready in his right hand, ached for a whirl, just one whirl, which”

    Chapter XII

  • “He would double the quirt in his hand and, the instant of the whirl, that doubled quirt would rap Bob on the nose.”

    Chapter XII

  • “On the other hand, suddenly to leave her and go dashing down the back-track, plying quirt and spurs, wouldn't do, either.”

    Chapter XII

  • “Daylight put a stop to this with spurs and quirt, running him several punishing miles in the direction of his bolt.”

    Chapter XI

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hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. whip

same context (19)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. rowel
  2. riata
  3. hatband
  1. lasso
  2. lariat
  3. headstall
  1. goad
  2. bridle
  3. saddlery
  1. halter
  2. hackamore
  3. caparison
  1. cinch
  2. nail-tailed
  3. headband
  1. stirrup
  2. sofy
  3. mallet
  1. poncho

reverse dictionary (1)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. quirt

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  • Noelle Knight "I scored big with 'quirt,' (speaking about playing Scrabble) and he stuck his tongue out at me." -Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris Feb 5, 2011

  • yarb "If I do," he said to himself, "I'll ride the buckskin." The buckskin was a half-broken broncho that fought like a fiend under the saddle until the quirt and spur brought her to her senses.

    - Frank Norris, The Octopus, ch. 2 Aug 9, 2008

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‘quirt’ has been looked up 3158 times, added to 23 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 14.