colter

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English culter, from Old English culter, from Latin culter (“a knife”). For the phonetic development, see poultry.

noun

1. A knife or cutter attached to the beam of a plow to cut the sward, in advance of the plowshare and moldboard.
   What is it but a servitude like that impos'd by the Philistims, not to be allow'd the sharpning of our own axes and coulters, but we must repair from all quarters to twenty licencing forges. 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica
   With colters bright the rushy sward bisect, / And in new veins the gushing rills direct […]. 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 150
2. The part of a seed drill that makes the furrow for the seed.