Word Meanings - SWINGLETREE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

A whiffletree, or whippletree. See Singletree.

WHIPPLETREE
The cornel tree. Chaucer. (more info) 1. The pivoted or swinging bar to which the traces, or tugs, of a harness are fastened, and by which a carriage, a plow, or other implement or vehicle, is drawn; a whiffletree; a swingletree; a singletree.
WHIFFLETREE
See WHIPPLETREE
SINGLETREE
The pivoted or swinging bar to which the traces of a harnessed horse are fixed; a whiffletree. Note: When two horses draw abreast, a singletree is fixed at each end of another crosspiece, called the doubletree.