quirt en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /kwɚt/ (US)
- /kwɜːt/ (UK)
Etymology
From Spanish cuerda (“cord”), or Mexican Spanish cuarta (“whip”).
Meanings
-
A rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide.
He rode his horse with the reins tied and he wore a pistol at his belt and a plain flatcrowned hat of a type no longer much seen in that country and he wore tooled boots to his knees and carried a quirt.
1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing:He wore a revolver down low, with ammunition belt, and carried a small quirt of some kind, and pieces of leather hanging everywhere, like a walking torture chamber: shiny shoes, low-hanging jacket, cocky hat, everything but boots.
1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC:No gunshot wounds, Barricune observed, but marks of kicks, and couple that must have been made with a quirt.
1949, Dorothy M. Johnson, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 92:He sprang into the saddle easily as a bird, got the quirt from the horn, and gave his pony a slash with it.
1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 177, column 2:She raised the handle of her beautiful quirt to her eyes and scanned the Western horizon.
1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin, published 2001, page 96:[…] when the young man whirled his horse, “hazed” Jupiter in circles and belaboured him with a rawhide quirt, […] He ceased his cavortings […]
1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter I, in The Understanding Heart:He paused a moment and flicked a sage-brush with his quirt.
1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 3, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| quirts | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (6)
tr kırbaç (a rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide) · ota سوط (a rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide) · unm siakw (a rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide) · ru арапник (a rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide) · ota قرباچ (a rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide) · bg бич (a rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide)