saddle

Meanings

Noun

• A seat (tack) for a rider placed on the back of a horse or other animal.
• An item of harness (harness saddle) placed on the back of a horse or other animal.
• A seat on a bicycle, motorcycle, etc.
• A cut of meat that includes both loins and part of the backbone.
• A low point, in the shape of a saddle, between two hills.
• A formation of gold-bearing quartz occurring along the crest of an anticlinal fold, especially in Australia.
• The raised floorboard in a doorway.
• A small tapered or sloped area structure that helps channel surface water to drains.
• A block of wood, usually fastened to one spar and shaped to receive the end of another.
• A part, such as a flange, which is hollowed out to fit upon a convex surface and serve as a means of attachment or support.
• The clitellum of an earthworm.
• Any of the saddle-like markings on a boa constrictor.
• A saddle shoe.
• That part of a guitar which supports the strings and, in an acoustic guitar, transfers their vibrations via the bridge to the soundboard.

Verb

• To put a saddle on (an animal).
• To get into a saddle.
• To burden or encumber.

Origin

• From Middle English sadel, from Old English sadol, from Proto-Germanic *sadulaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sod-dʰlo-, from Proto-Indo-European *sed- + *-dʰlom. Cognate with Scots sadil, Saterland Frisian Soadel, West Frisian seal, Dutch zadel, Low German Sadel, German Sattel, Danish sadel, Swedish sadel, Icelandic söðull, Russian седло́.
• From Middle English sadelen, from Old English sadolian, from Proto-Germanic *sadulōną.