# saddle

Pronunciation: say "SAD-uhl" US /ˈsæd(ə)l/, UK /ˈsædl̩/

## Noun

1. A rider's seat, typically leather and raised at the front and back, fastened on the back of a horse or other animal by a strap around its body.
   - Simple: A seat, often made of leather, that is strapped onto a horse or other animal so a person can ride it.
   - _The rider was thrown from the saddle when her horse stumbled at the fence._
   - _A badly fitted saddle can rub a horse's back raw on a long ride._
2. The fixed seat on which the rider of a bicycle, motorbike, or similar vehicle sits.
   - Simple: The seat on a bike, a motorcycle, or something like them.
   - _Cyclists who ride long distances often pay extra for a well-padded saddle._
   - _He swung off the motorcycle's saddle and pulled off his helmet._
5. Something whose appearance or shape resembles a rider's seat strapped to a horse's back.
   - Simple: Something that looks like, or is shaped like, a seat for riding a horse.
   - _Erosion had carved the sandstone boulder into a smooth saddle, curved up at both ends._
   - _Each chip is pressed into a shallow saddle so that the whole stack nests neatly in the can._
6. A low point between two hills, where the ground dips in the shape of a saddle.
   - Simple: A low part of the land between two hills, curved like a saddle.
   - _The trail crosses a windy saddle before dropping into the next valley._
   - _From the saddle, the climbers could see both summits and the glacier below._
9. A cut of meat that takes in both loins together with part of the backbone.
   - Simple: A large cut of meat from an animal's back, taking in both sides and part of the backbone.
   - _The chef roasted a saddle of lamb whole and carved it at the table._
   - _Saddle of rabbit, boned and stuffed, was the restaurant's signature dish._
10. Horseback riding as an activity or an occupation.
   - Simple: Riding horses, for fun or for work.
   - _After forty years in the saddle, the rancher sold his herd and moved to town._
   - _Breeders train some horses for harness and others for the saddle._
12. The piece on a guitar that the strings rest on; on an acoustic guitar it also carries their vibrations, by way of the bridge, to the soundboard.
   - Simple: The part of a guitar that holds up the strings and, on acoustic guitars, sends their sound into the body.
   - _A bone saddle can give an acoustic guitar a brighter, clearer tone._
   - _The luthier lowered the saddle to bring the strings closer to the frets._
13. A device like a riding saddle, used to fasten loads of goods onto an animal; a packsaddle.
   - Simple: A thing like a riding seat, put on an animal to hold bags and other loads.
   - _Each llama's saddle carried two sacks of supplies, one hanging on either side._
   - _The traders strapped salt blocks to the camels' saddles before the caravan set out._
14. A medium brown color like that of saddle leather; also called saddle brown.
   - Simple: A medium brown color, like the leather used for saddles.
   - _The sofa is available in black, slate gray, and saddle._
   - _She picked saddle for the car's leather seats because it hides dust._
15. A band of leather, usually in a contrasting color, stitched across the top of a shoe over the instep. *(US)*
   - Simple: A strip of leather sewn across the top middle of a shoe, often in a different color.
   - _The cobbler restitched the saddle where it had pulled away from the instep._
   - _Two-tone oxfords with a navy saddle were part of the school uniform._
16. A shoe like an oxford with a separate leather band across the instep, also called a saddle shoe or saddle oxford. *(US)*
   - Simple: A laced shoe with a band of leather across the middle, often in another color.
   - _In the old yearbook photos, half the girls are wearing bobby socks and saddles._
   - _The left saddle pinched, so she took the pair back to the store._
17. A marking on an animal that is shaped like a saddle, such as the one on an adult harp seal's back or the many on a boa constrictor; also called a saddle patch.
   - Simple: A mark on an animal's body shaped like a saddle, like the one on some seals.
   - _Adult harp seals are easy to spot by the black saddle across their backs._
   - _Researchers counted the saddles along each boa's body to tell the snakes apart._
18. A point on the graph of a smooth function such that every neighborhood of it contains points on both sides of its tangent plane; also called a saddle point.
   - Simple: In math, a point on a curved surface that rises one way and falls another, like the middle of a saddle.
   - _At the origin, the surface z = x² − y² has a saddle, curving up along one axis and down along the other._
   - _A critical point can be a maximum, a minimum, or a saddle._
19. The lower back of a domestic fowl, especially a male, which carries the saddle feathers or saddle hackles.
   - Simple: The lower back of a farm bird such as a rooster, where special feathers grow.
   - _Fly tiers prize the long, narrow feathers from a rooster's saddle._
   - _At the poultry show, the judge checked each cockerel's saddle for broken feathers._
21. A harness saddle: the part of a harness that carries the weight of the poles or shafts linking a vehicle to a horse or other animal.
   - Simple: The part of a horse's harness that holds up the poles of a cart or carriage.
   - _A poorly padded saddle can rub sores where the shafts press down on a cart horse's back._
   - _The driver tightened the girth under the saddle so the carriage shafts would not sway._
22. An equipment part, such as a flange, that is hollowed to fit onto a convex surface and serves to attach or support something.
   - Simple: A part with a curved hollow that fits onto something round to hold or support it.
   - _On the old locomotive, the smokebox rests on a cast-iron saddle above the cylinders._
   - _Each pipe saddle is shaped to the curve of the pipe and clamped tight with U-bolts._
24. The threshold of a door: the raised board or strip across the floor at the bottom of a doorway.
   - Simple: The raised strip across the floor of a doorway, under the door.
   - _Rain had warped the old saddle, so the contractor pried it out and screwed in a new one._
   - _A marble saddle marks the line where the bathroom tile meets the hallway floor._

## Verb

3. To put a saddle on a horse or other animal.
   - Simple: To fit a horse or other animal with a saddle.
   - _The stable hand saddled the mare and led her out to the ring._
   - _Guides saddle the mules at dawn so the group can start up the canyon early._
4. To burden or weigh someone down with a problem or responsibility.
   - Simple: To give someone a heavy problem or duty that they must deal with.
   - _Lawmakers warned that the plan would saddle young workers with decades of debt._
   - _The new manager found herself saddled with a project already months behind schedule._
7. To place a burden or responsibility on someone, or to force a problem on them.
   - Simple: To push a problem or a duty onto someone else.
   - _Executives tried to saddle the blame on a junior accountant._
   - _The landlord saddled the cost of the repairs upon his tenants._
8. Of a rider, to mount a horse and take one's seat on it. *(Canada, US)*
   - Simple: To climb onto a horse and sit in its saddle.
   - _The posse saddled up in the dark, swinging onto their horses without a word._
   - _Riders who saddle up too fast sometimes slide right off the other side._
11. To place something on another thing the way a saddle sits on an animal.
   - Simple: To put one thing across the top of another, like a saddle on a horse.
   - _The plumber saddled a clamp over the main pipe to tap in a new line._
   - _Some warblers saddle their nests on a bare limb rather than in a fork._
20. To send out a horse one has trained to compete in a race.
   - Simple: To put a horse you have trained into a race.
   - _Few trainers saddle more than one runner in the same stakes race._
   - _Last spring she saddled a long shot that won by six lengths._
23. To cut a saddle-shaped notch in a log or piece of wood so it fits with others; also, to join logs or timbers with notches of that shape.
   - Simple: To cut a curved notch in a log so it sits tight on another log, or to join logs that way.
   - _Builders saddle the ends of each log so the corners lock together without nails._
   - _The crew saddled the cedar logs at every corner, scribing each notch to fit the log beneath._

## Verb

25. To control or restrain someone or something, as though putting a saddle on them. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To control someone or something and hold them back, as if they were a horse.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A small piece, traditionally of ebony, at the bottom of a violin, viola, cello, or similar instrument, below the tailpiece, on which the tailpiece's securing cord rests.
- (noun) A padded cushion that serves as a seat in a cart or other vehicle.
- (noun) A time slot between two popular programs, in which another program is scheduled so that their viewers will watch it too.
- (noun) The base of a denture in which the artificial teeth are set.
- (noun) An anticline, a fold in which the rock layers slope down on each side; more narrowly, a low point along the axis of an anticline.
- (noun) In geology, a vein of ore curved like an arch, often gold-bearing quartz, lying along the crest of a fold in the rock.
- (noun) On a ship, a wooden chock hollowed on its upper and lower faces, fixed to one spar so another spar's end can rest in it.
- (noun) The thick, swollen band around an earthworm's body that forms the case for its eggs.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 5–6, 9–10, 12–19, 21–22, 24** — From Middle English sadel, from Old English sadol, from Proto-Germanic *sadulaz, “saddle.” Its further origin is uncertain: perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *sed-, “to sit,” though this has formal difficulties. Compare German Sattel and Dutch zadel.
**Meanings 3–4, 7–8, 11, 20, 23, 25** — From Middle English sadelen, “to put a saddle on (an animal),” from Old English sadolian, from Proto-Germanic *sadulōną, a verb formed from *sadulaz, “a saddle.” Compare German satteln and Swedish sadla.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/saddle (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).