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Hamlet vocabulary

3 horse related terms (carriages, anatomy, breeds, tack)

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equestrian

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unwrung withers: synonyms: fistulous withers, ~poll evil ???

tags: [equestrian]

► definition

Definition:

wither-wrung, now called fistulous withers, is a painful wound on a horse's withers caused by either a poorly fitting saddle or a bacterial infection.

Metaphorically to have unwrung withers means to have a clean conscience.
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wither-wrung: Defn: Injured or hurt in the withers, as a horse.

Noah Webster. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

^{By Lucyin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37526675}

► uses

Uses:

'[...]—Make them first sensible that you have nothing in view but their good, then they will listen with patience, and easily be convinced of the sin and folly of a practice that affords neither profit nor pleasure'—At this remark, our uncle changed colour, and looked round the company, conscious that his own withers were not altogether unwrung.

Tobias Smollett. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771)

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we that have free souls, it touches us not. Let the gall'd jade* winch**; our withers are unwrung.

William Shakespeare. Hamlet

_{*A jade is a broken-down horse, so of course a galled jade is a horse with galls.}

_{**winch = wince}