saddle bow

See also: saddlebow and saddle-bow

English

Alternative forms

• saddle-bow, saddlebow

Etymology

From Middle English sadel-bowe, sadel-boȝe, from Old English sadulboga, sadolboga, equivalent to saddle +‎ bow. Displaced non-native arson (“saddle bow”), from Middle English arsoun.

Noun

saddle bow (plural saddle bows)

1. The front part of the saddle that is arched up like a bow.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     the Prince […] stroke the Pagan with his steely brand / So sore, that to his saddle-bow thereby / He bowed low, and so a while did lie […].

   • 1931 October 12, “Sand in the Streets”, in Time:

     The Government mobilized the full force of 18,000 mounted gendarmes and sent them picking their way over the sand about as heavily armored as any policeman could be: a long lance in one hand, a sabre at the saddle bow, a rifle across the back, a pistol on the hip.

Translations

front part of saddle

• Aromanian: ublãncu n, blãncu n
• Catalan: arçó (ca) m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: zadelboog (nl) m
• Finnish: etukaari, nuppi (fi)
• Galician: arzón m
• German: Sattelbogen m
• Italian: arcione (it) m
• Middle English: sadel-bowe, arsoun
• Polish: łęk (pl) m
• Romanian: oblânc (ro) n
• Russian: лука́ (ru) f (luká)
• Swedish: framvalv n, sadelbåge c