bitch hook

bitch hook
 n.— «The sleigh wanted to hurtle down the hill, running over the horses. The solution to this was to get off, and apply what was called a “block chain” around the runner, with a hook known as a “bitch hook,” because it hung on so tightly that it wouldn’t let go. Now the horses could pull the sleigh down, rather than have to brake it all the way.» —“Times Past” by Paul Tapley Fall at Muskoka Resorts (North Muskoka, Ontario, Can.) Nov. 7, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Further reading

It’s All in a Dezzick

The word dezzick is defined in an 1875 dictionary of the Sussex dialect as “a day’s work.” This is part of a complete episode.

Related

Sleepy Winks (episode #1584)

It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...

Recent posts