saddle

Etymology 1

From Middle English sadel, from Old English sadol, from Proto-West Germanic *sadul, from Proto-Germanic *sadulaz (“saddle”). Further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *sod-dʰlo-, from *sed- (“to sit”) + *-dʰlom (a variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting instruments or tools)), though the Oxford English Dictionary says this “presents formal difficulties”. cognates * Danish sadel * Dutch zadel * German Sattel * Icelandic söðull * Low German Sadel * Russian седло́ (sedló) * Saterland Frisian Soadel * Scots sadil * Swedish sadel * West Frisian seal

noun

1. A seat for a rider, typically made of leather and raised in the front and rear, placed on the back of a horse or other animal, and secured by a strap around the animal's body.
   1. A similar implement used to secure goods to animals; a packsaddle.
   2. Synonym of harness saddle (“the part of a harness which supports the weight of poles or shafts attaching a vehicle to a horse or other animal”)
   3. A cushion used as a seat in a cart or other vehicle.
   4. The immovable seat of a bicycle, motorcycle, or similar vehicle.
   5. (by extension)
      1. Chiefly preceded by the: horse-riding as an activity or occupation.
      2. Synonym of saddle brown (“a medium brown colour, like that of saddle leather”)
         saddle:
2. Something resembling a saddle (sense 1) in appearance or shape.
   1. A low point, in the shape of a saddle, between two hills.
      So we continue climbing to the saddle of the Kleine Scheidegg, where ahead there comes into view the wide expanse of the Grindelwald valley, backed by the snowy crown of the Wetterhorn. 1960 December, Voyageur [pseudonym], “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 752
      With Lizzie leading, they scrambled quickly over several false peaks towards the saddle. 1977, John Le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], “Nelson”, in The Honourable Schoolboy, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 514
   2. A cut of meat that includes both loins and part of the backbone.
      To roast a leg, haunch, or saddle of mutton. […] A modern refinement is to put laver in the dripping-pan, which, in basting, imparts a high gout; or a large saddle may be served over a pound and a half of laver, stewed in brown sauce with catsup and seasonings. 1847, Margaret Dods [pseudonym; Christian Isobel Johnstone], “Roasting”, in The Cook and Housewife’s Manual.[…], 8th edition, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd; London; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, paragraph 19, pages 106–107
      Certainly, in the gravy soups, turbot, hare, roast saddles, cabinet puddings, boiled eggs at tea-time and bread and butter and meat paste with the morning tray, one tasted one's own decadence: a tradition had been preserved in order to humiliate. Perhaps it really was time the British limped out of Malaya. 1958, Anthony Burgess, chapter 6, in The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), London: William Heinemann, published 1979, page 71
   3. (construction)
      1. A small sloped or tapered structure that helps channel surface water to drains.
      2. The raised floorboard in a doorway.
   4. (dentistry) The part of a denture which holds the artificial teeth.
   5. (engineering) An equipment part, such as a flange, which is hollowed out to fit upon a convex surface and serve as a means of attachment or support.
      […] with this arrangement the cylinders are cast separately from the saddle, and bolted to the frames on each side with a fabricated stiffener between the frames. This stiffener is carried up to form the saddle for the smokebox, and within it is fitted the exhaust pipes from the cylinders to the blast pipe. 1944 November and December, “Modified G.W.R. "Hall" Class Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 350
   6. (geology) An anticline (“fold with strata sloping downwards on each side”); specifically, a depression located along the axial trend of such a fold.
      1. (chiefly Australia, mining) Synonym of saddle reef (“a saddle-shaped bedded mineral (usually gold-bearing quartz) vein occurring along the crest of an anticline or (less common) a syncline (an inverted saddle)”)
   7. (geometry) Synonym of saddle point (“a point in the range of a smooth function, every neighbourhood of which contains points on each side of its tangent plane”)
   8. (lutherie)
      1. The part of a guitar which supports the strings and, in an acoustic guitar, transfers their vibrations through the bridge to the soundboard.
      2. A small object (traditionally made of ebony) at the bottom of a string instrument such as a cello, viola, or violin below the tailpiece on which the tailgut (“cord securing the tailpiece to the instrument”) rests.
   9. (nautical) A block of wood with concave depressions at the top and bottom, usually fastened to one spar and shaped to receive the end of another.
   10. (zoology)
       1. The clitellum of an earthworm (family Lumbricidae).
       2. The lower part of the back of a domestic fowl, especially a male bird, bearing the saddle feathers or saddle hackles.
       3. In full saddle marking or saddle patch: a saddle-like marking on an animal, such as one on the back of an adult harp seal or saddleback seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), or any of numerous such markings on a boa constrictor (Boa constrictor).
   11. (originally and chiefly Canada, US)
       1. A piece of leather stitched across the instep of a shoe, usually having a different colour from the rest of the shoe.
       2. Synonym of saddle oxford or saddle shoe (“a shoe, resembling an oxford, which has a saddle (sense 11.1)”)
          'Now then … What'll it be, boys?' Mr Berman asked. / My mother answered. 'Brown-and-white saddles for Fudge and loafers for Peter.' 1972, Judy Blume, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, New York, N.Y.: Dutton Children’s Books, page 56

Etymology 2

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)

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To put a saddle (noun sense 1) on (an animal).
      vno pienſa el Báyo, otro que lo ensilla, the bay horſe thinketh one thing, and he that ſaddleth him thinketh another thing. 1623, Richard Percivale, John Minsheu, “Báyo”, in A Dictionary in Spanish and English:[…], London: […] Iohn Haviland for William Aspley, →OCLC, page 44, column 1
      "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." Used figuratively. 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
      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. 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
      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. 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
   2. To put (something) on to another thing like a saddle on an animal.
   3. (figurative)
      1. To enter (a trained horse) into a race.
      2. (often passive) Chiefly followed by with: to burden or encumber (someone) with some problem or responsibility.
         He has been saddled with the task of collecting evidence of the theft.
         They went shopping and left me saddled with two children to look after.
         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. 1962 December, “Dr. Beeching Previews the Plan for British Railways”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 377
      3. Chiefly followed by on or upon: to place (a burden or responsibility) or thrust (a problem) on someone.
      4. (archaic) To control or restrain (someone or something), as if using a saddle; to bridle, to harness, to rein in.
      5. (obsolete, rare) To get (someone) to do a burdensome task.
   4. (woodworking) 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.
   5. (obsolete)
      1. To put something on to (another thing) like a saddle on an animal.
2. (intransitive, chiefly Canada, US) Often followed by up.
   1. To put a saddle on an animal.
   2. Of a person: to get into a saddle.