whippletree Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a crossbar that is attached to the traces of a draft horse and to the vehicle or implement that the horse is pulling
    whiffletree; swingletree.

WordNet

Whip"ple*tree` noun
Etymology
See Whip, and cf. Whiffletree.
Definitions
  1. The pivoted or swinging bar to which the traces, or tugs, of a harness are fastened, and by which a carriage, a plow, or other implement or vehicle, is drawn; a whiffletree; a swingletree; a singletree. See Singletree.
    [People] cut their own whippletree in the woodlot. Emerson.
  2. (Bot.) The cornel tree. Chaucer.

Webster 1913