surcingle

American  

[sur-sing-guhl] / ˈsɜrˌsɪŋ gəl /

noun

1. a belt or girth that passes around the belly of a horse and over the blanket, pack, saddle, etc., and is buckled on the horse's back.

2. a beltlike fastening for a garment, especially a cassock.

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surcingle British  

/ ˈsɜːˌsɪŋɡəl /

noun

1. a girth for a horse which goes around the body, used esp with a racing saddle

2. the belt worn with a cassock

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verb

1. to put a surcingle on or over (a horse)

Etymology

Origin of surcingle

1350–1400; Middle English surcengle < Middle French, equivalent to sur- sur- ¹ + cengle belt < Latin cingulum; see cingulum

Example Sentences

The other horse bore an ordinary saddle, over which was thrown a light blue merino blanket several times folded, and secured to the saddle by a gayly-woven surcingle.

From The South-West By a Yankee. In Two Volumes. Volume 2 by Ingraham, Jonathon Holt

If he is full of corn and well bred, take advantage of the moment to tie up the off fore-leg to the surcingle, as securely as the other, in a slip loop knot.

From A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses With the Substance of the Lectures at the Round House, and Additional Chapters on Horsemanship and Hunting, for the Young and Timid by Rarey, J. S. (John Solomon)

Thence to the banks where rev'rend bards repose, They led him soft; each rev'rend bard arose; And Milbourn chief, deputed by the rest, Gave him the cassock, surcingle, and vest.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845 by Various

The surcingle has accustomed him to girths—he leads well, and has learned that when the right rein is pulled he must go to the right, and when the left rein to the left.

From A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses With the Substance of the Lectures at the Round House, and Additional Chapters on Horsemanship and Hunting, for the Young and Timid by Rarey, J. S. (John Solomon)

In South America a ring fixed to the surcingle is used; while in Guatemala and Costa Rica the reata is tied to the end of the horse's tail!

From Ranching, Sport and Travel by Carson, Thomas