coulter, colter
(ˈkəʊltə(r))
Forms: 1 culter, 4 cultre, coltour, kulter, 4–6 culture, 5 cultre, (-ere, -ur, -yr), 6 cultar, -or(e, (dial. kowter), 7 coultar, colture, (7–9 dial. cooter), 4– culter, 5– colter, 6– coulter.
[OE. culter, a. L. culter coulter, knife; in OF. coltre, coultre, F. coutre, which may have influenced the ME. and modern forms: cf. however with coulter and dial. cooter, the phonetic development of OE. sculder, mod. shoulder, dial. shooder. The spelling colter is preferred in American dictionaries; culter also given in mod. dictionaries on account of its use by Shakes., appears to be since 17th c. only dial. (e.g. in W. Somerset).]
1. The iron blade fixed in front of the share in a plough; it makes a vertical cut in the soil, which is then sliced horizontally by the share.
| c 1000 ælfric Colloq. in Wr.-Wülcker 90 Gefæstnodon sceare and cultre mid ðære syl. Ibid. 99 Hwanon ðam yrþlingc sylanscear oþþe culter. a 1100 Voc. ibid., 313 Vomer, scear. Cultor, culter. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1547 As a coltour in clay cerues þo forȝes. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iv. 464 To schare or to kulter. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 577 A smyth..That in his forge smythed plowh⁓harneys; He scharpeth schar and cultre bysily. 1558 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) 170 A kowter, a soke, a muk fowe, a graype, 2 yerne forks. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 36 Two ploughs and a plough chein, ij culters, iij shares. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 46 While that the Culter rusts, That should deracinate such Sauagery. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. xiii. 20 To sharpen euery man his share and his coulter. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 334/2 A Plow Culter, or Cooter vulgarly. c 1745 Akenside Odes i. xii, To Sir F. H. Drake, He whets the rusty coulter. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 34 The coulter and the share were in one, and the [ancient Egyptian] plough was constructed without wheels. |
| fig. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. iii. 193 By time's deep-piercing coulter harrow'd o'er. 1889 T. Hardy Mayor Casterbr. xiv, That field-mouse fear of the coulter of destiny. |
† 2. A knife.
Obs. (
app. a Latinism).
| [a 1000 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 273 Sicca, cultur.] 1382 Wyclif Prov. xxiii. 2 Set a culter in thi throte. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. (First
quot. doubtful.)
| 1630 in Lex Londinensis (1680) 201 That no man..shall presume to shute any Draw-net or Coulter-net..before sun rising nor after sun setting. a 1740 Tull in Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Coulter, Its right side above, to bear against the upper edge of the coulter hole. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 297 Two coulter bars..containing grooves..for the reception of bolts and screws, by which the coulters are fastened. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 116 A sharp comb welded on the coulter margin of the share. 1834 R. Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 154 Bill..coulter-shaped. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Coulter-box..the iron clip and screw by which the coulter is fixed in its place on the beam. |
Hence
ˈcoultered a., as in
four-coultered, having four coulters.
| a 1740 Tull in Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Coulter, In the four coultered plough. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 228 The plough with two coulters..will not..do near so much work as the four-coultered plough. |