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balling-iron

noun

Etymology

Named for its original use in forcing open the mouth of an animal for balling.

Definitions

  1. A piece of shaped metal that forces the mouth of an animal to stay open.

    • It is necessary at times to give a medicinal ball to a horse, and as few grooms are expert at administering a ball without assistance, a balling-iron affords them that assistance.
    • Every groom should know how to give a ball, which is managed either with or without a balling-iron, an instrument which is seldom wanted , and which sometimes occasions considerable mischief to the roof of the horse's mouth .

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for balling-iron. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA