rowel
Americannoun
-
a small wheel with radiating points, forming the extremity of a spur.
-
Veterinary Medicine. a piece of leather or the like inserted beneath the skin of a horse or other animal to promote drainage of an infection.
verb (used with object)
-
to prick or urge with a rowel.
-
Veterinary Medicine. to insert a rowel in.
noun
-
a small spiked wheel attached to a spur
-
obsolete vet science a piece of leather or other material inserted under the skin of a horse to act as a seton and allow drainage
verb
-
to goad (a horse) using a rowel
-
obsolete vet science to insert a rowel in (the skin of a horse) to allow drainage
Other Word Forms
- unroweled adjective
Etymology
Origin of rowel
1350–1400; Middle English rowelle < Middle French ruelle, Old French roel < Late Latin rotella, equivalent to Latin rot ( a ) wheel + -ella -elle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Johnny took off his spurs and showed the silversmith a broken rowel.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
The rowel is one and a half or two inches in diameter, and the points are about twenty-five or thirty inches long.
From Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests by Ross, Thomasina
If the rowel is moderately sharp only, no cruelty can arise, less I maintain than in the use of a whip.
From Ladies on Horseback Learning, Park-Riding, and Hunting, with Hints upon Costume, and Numerous Anecdotes by Lambert, Nannie
Upon his spurs all gory Twelve gilded birdies bore he; Each time with the rowel he pricked his horse The birdies sang with all their force.
From Ulf Van Yern and Other Ballads by Borrow, George Henry
The reason of this charge being called the spur fire is, because the sparks it yields have a great resemblance to the rowel of a spur, from whence it takes its name.
From Endless Amusement A Collection of Nearly 400 Entertaining Experiments by Unknown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
