withers
Horse breeders and riders measure horses at the withers, or the shoulder blades, since it's a stable point that doesn't move, unlike the horse's head and neck.
Horsey folks will know this word as denoting the high point on a horse's back, where the shoulder bones meet, and you can use it for that part of a dog's body as well. It's an old word in English, and it maintains a dignified silence about its true origins — and why, like scissors and pants, it's a plural denoting a single thing.
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the highest part of the back at the base of the neck of various animals especially draft animalstype of:body partany part of an organism such as an organ or extremity
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Vocabulary lists containing withers
When twelve-year-old Maine farmboy Jackson Hurd meets his new foster brother, another middle schooler whom others see as trouble, he learns what it means to have someone's back.
This novella links four episodes in the life of Jody Tiflin, a young boy growing up on a California ranch during the early 20th century.
When their father goes off on a cattle drive, a family survives with a little help from a beloved pet dog. Learn these words from the classic novel by Fred Gipson.