Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long heavy wooden pole tossed end over end as a demonstration of strength in Scottish highland games.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A pole; a rafter; a beam; a large stick.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A pole or beam, esp. one used in Gaelic games for tossing as a trial of strength.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A long, thick log held upright at one end and tossed in the Highland games.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a heavy wooden pole (such as the trunk of a young fir) that is tossed as a test of strength (in the Highlands of northern Scotland)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Scottish Gaelic cabar, pole, beam, rafter, from Vulgar Latin *capriō, from Latin capra, she-goat; see chevron.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • Shurely not from an extinct verb "to cabe"? To be big and heavy? To be lengthy and wooden? To be tossable?

    November 16, 2007