stringhalt
(ˈstrɪŋhɔːlt)
Also 6 -halte, -hawlde, 7 -holt, -hault.
[app. f. string n. + halt a. and n.2 See also springhalt.]
An affection of the hind legs of a horse which causes certain muscles to contract spasmodically.
| 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. § 108 The stryng-halte is an yl disease, and maketh hym to twyche vp his legge sodeynly. 1592 R. D. Hypnerotomachia 45, I might well perceiue that they [sc. the nymphs] had neither crampes nor stringhawldes or leaden heeles. 1639 T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. 66 All manner of convulsions, cramps, numnesse, and stringholts. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2353/4 He takes up his Legs behind when he walks, as if he had the String-halt. 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxvii, The stringhalt will gae aff when it's gaen a mile. 1888 W. Williams Princ. Vet. Med. (ed. 5) 11 Hereditary tendency.—Many diseases, such as curbs, spavin,..chorea or stringhalt, run in certain breeds of horses. |
† b. as adj. Affected with stringhalt. Obs.
| 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 983/4 A Grey Mare,..Stringhalt on the near Leg behind. 1703 Ibid. No. 3881/4 A brown-bay Nag,..much string-halt. |
Hence ˈstringhalted (whence stringhaltedness), -halty adjs., affected with stringhalt. ˈstringhalter, a horse affected with stringhalt.
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2224/4 The one [gelding] a grey,..string-halted. 1853 Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour (1893) 61 A weedy string-halty chestnut.., high in bone and low in flesh. 1872 Daily News 18 Apr. 5/7 The roarers, wheezers, scramblers, star-gazers, stringhalters. 1889 F. C. Philips Ainslie's Courtship I. vi. 62 There was also a distinct tendency towards string-haltedness. |