English

edit

Etymology

edit

From head +‎ stall.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

headstall (plural headstalls)

  1. The part of a bridle that fits over a horse's head and supports other elements. [from 14th c.]
    • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
      Why, Petruchio is coming [] his horse hipp’d [] with a half-cheek’d bit, and a head-stall of sheep’s leather which, being restrained to keep him from stumbling, hath been often burst, and now repaired with knots []
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      Another, that would seeme to have more wit, / Him by the bright embrodered hed-stall tooke [] .
    • 1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden[1], Penguin, published 2003, Chapter 15, Part 4, p. 172:
      He turned back, slipped the bit in Dox’s mouth, and laced the big flop ears into the headstall.
    • 1989, Elias Lönnrot, translated by Keith Bosley, The Kalevala, section XIX:
      Then the smith Ilmarinen / the everlasting craftsman / out of steel formed a bridle / forged a headstall [translating päitset] of iron […].
  2. (obsolete) A phorbeia. [18th–19th c.]

Synonyms

edit

Translations

edit

References

edit
  • Baranowski, Zdzislaw, "The International Horseman's Dictionary", Pitman Publishing, New York, 1955
  • Stratton, Charles, "The International Horseman's Dictionary", Hamlyn Publishing, Melbourne, 1975
  • Summerhayes, R.S., "Encyclopedia for Horsemen", Frederick Warne & Co., London and New York, 1966