saddle
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsædl̩/
ipa: /ˈsæd(ə)l/
rhymes: -ædəl
Forms: form: saddles
form: saddling
form: saddled
form: saddled
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: saddle
form: saddle
form: saddled
form: saddle
form: saddlest
form: saddled
form: saddledst
form: saddles
form: saddleth
form: saddled
form: saddle
form: saddled
form: saddle
form: saddled
form: saddle
form: -
form: saddling
form: saddled
Etymology: From Middle English sadelen (“to put a saddle on (an animal), to saddle”) [and other forms], from Old English sadolian, sadelian, sadilian (“to saddle”), from Proto-Germanic *sadulōną (“to saddle”), from *sadulaz (“a saddle”, noun) (see further at etymology 1) + *-ōną (suffix forming denominative verbs from nouns).
Cognates
* Middle Dutch sādelen (modern Dutch zadelen)
* Middle Low German sādelen
* Old Danish sathlæ (modern Danish sadle)
* Old High German satalōn, satulōn (Middle High German satelen, sateln, German satteln)
* Old Norse sǫðla
* Old Swedish saþla (modern Swedish sadla)
Senses: examples: text: Then roſe Balaam vp in the mornynge, & ſadled his Aſſe, & wente wͪ the prynces of yͤ Moabites.
ref: 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Numerus [Numbers] xxij:[21], folio lxvii, recto, column 2:
text: Saddle your horſe on the race day in the ſtable before you leade him forth, and fixe both the pannell and the girthes to his backe and ſides vvith Shooe-makers vvaxe to preuent all daungers.
ref: 1615, G[ervase] M[arkham], “[The Husbandmans Recreations: […].] Of the Ordering and Dyeting of the Running Horse.”, in Countrey Contentments, in Two Bookes: The First, Containing the Whole Art of Riding Great Horses in Very Short Time, […] The Second Intituled, The English Huswife: […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for R[oger] Iackson, […], →OCLC, 2nd section (Of Horse-manshippe), page 84:
text: vno pienſa el Báyo, otro que lo ensilla, the bay horſe thinketh one thing, and he that ſaddleth him thinketh another thing.
ref: 1623, Richard Percivale, John Minsheu, “Báyo”, in A Dictionary in Spanish and English: […], London: […] Iohn Haviland for William Aspley, →OCLC, page 44, column 1:
text: Some fevv of the horſes kept their ſtanding ſtill unaffrighted, and even thoſe they had much ado to ſaddle, to bridle, and to mount upon; […]
ref: 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book XXXVII]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, page 766:
text: "Nay, nay, Reynallt," said Ap Teudor, replying to the angry glance of the Forester, "thou saddlest the wrong steed: like the Abbot, I have no voice but that of obedience."
ref: 1853, R[ichard] W[illiams] Morgan, “The Venedotian and His Land”, in Raymond de Monthault, the Lord Marcher: A Legend of the Welch Borders. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 50:
text: And he [Abraham] doth rise up with the morrow's dawn, / And for that bidden flame, the wood straightway / He cleaveth now; and saddleth his ass; / And taking him his son [Isaac] and servants hence, / Doth journey thitherward—full of his God.
ref: 1892, George Ferguson, “Canto VI. Earth’s Phases: The Ministry of Night: Early Temples.”, in Our Earth—Night to Twilight, volume I, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin […], →OCLC, page 155:
text: Brünnhild! Brünnhild! / Thou shining child of Wotan! / Bright-beaming through the night, / the hero I see thee draw near: / with holy earnest smile / thou saddlest thy horse, / that dew-dripping / cleaveth the clouds.
ref: 1899, Richard Wagner, “Siegfried’s Death”, in William Ashton Ellis, transl., Richard Wagner’s Prose Works, volume VIII (Posthumous, etc.), London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., →OCLC, act III, scene ii, page 45:
glosses: To put a saddle (noun sense 1) on (an animal).
examples: text: Reſolv'd for Sea, the Slaves thy Baggage pack; / Each ſaddled, vvith his Burden on his back: […]
ref: 1693, Aulus Persius Flaccus, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 68, lines 207–208:
text: The centre of the nest is what I would call saddled on the bough, the materials being laid so that the nest is thinner in its middle part and thicker at the two opposite sides, so as to have a firm hold.
ref: 1831, John James Audubon, “Purple Grackle or Common Crow-blackbird. Quiscalus versicolor, Vieill. […]”, in Ornithological Biography, or An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; […], Edinburgh: Adam Black, […], →OCLC, page 39:
glosses: To put (something) on to another thing like a saddle on an animal.
glosses: To enter (a trained horse) into a race.
examples: text: He has been saddled with the task of collecting evidence of the theft.
text: They went shopping and left me saddled with two children to look after.
text: He is saddled with house payments now, so he can't afford to spend more money.
text: He wished he had not been saddled with Whippham's rather futile son as his chaplain.
ref: 1917, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The Soul of a Bishop:
text: They saddled themselves with the handling of light flows on a multiplicity of branch lines, and they sacrificed the speed, reliability and low cost of through train operation, even over the main arteries of the system.
ref: 1962 December, “Dr. Beeching Previews the Plan for British Railways”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 377:
qualifier: often passive voice
glosses: Chiefly followed by with: to burden or encumber (someone) with some problem or responsibility.
examples: text: I did not dislose the name of the man I proposed, because I found her only too eager to marry anyone upon whom she could saddle her debts, and so make him either pay them or change places with her.
ref: 1881, Walter Besant, James Rice, “How Lord Chudleigh Received His Freedom”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet […], volume III, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, part II (The Queen of the Wells), page 248:
glosses: Chiefly followed by on or upon: to place (a burden or responsibility) or thrust (a problem) on someone.
examples: text: But he never would believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter V, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 567:
glosses: To control or restrain (someone or something), as if using a saddle; to bridle, to harness, to rein in.
examples: text: Picked up Sotheby, who endeavoured to saddle me for a review of his polyglot Virgil. I fear I shall scarce convince him that I know nothing of the Latin lingo.
ref: 1826 October 25 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 25 October 1826]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume I, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890, →OCLC, page 283:
glosses: To get (someone) to do a burdensome task.
topics: arts
business
carpentry
construction
crafts
hobbies
lifestyle
manufacturing
woodworking
glosses: To cut a saddle-shaped notch in (a log or other piece of wood) so it can fit together with other such logs or pieces; also, to fit (logs or other pieces of wood) together with this method.
glosses: To put something on to (another thing) like a saddle on an animal.
examples: text: Next day, while we were saddling, Ali and Abd el Kader appeared.
ref: 1922 (date written; published 1926), T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, “Book VI: The Raid upon the Bridges. Chapter LXXI.”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, published 1937, →OCLC, page 394:
glosses: Often followed by up.
To put a saddle on an animal.
examples: text: Till the dead midnight we saddled not,— / I have journeyed far and fast— / And hither I come to carry thee back / Ere the darkness shall be past.
ref: c. 1844 June (date written), Gottfried August Bürger, translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lenore […], London: Ellis and Elvey, […], published 1900, →OCLC, page 26:
text: [A]y, every churl who owns a manor, if he dares—must needs arm and saddle, and levy war on his own behalf, and harry and slay the King's lieges, if he have not garlic to his roast goose every time he chooses […]
ref: 1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “How Hereward Was Outlawed, and Went North to Seek His Fortunes”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 61:
glosses: Often followed by up.
Of a person: to get into a saddle.
Derived terms: word: saddled
word: saddler
word: saddle up
word: saddle with
word: saddling