travis

What it means

1. obsoleteA wooden frame to confine a horse while the smith is setting his shoes.
2. obsoleteA beam; a lay of joints; a traverse.
3. UKA screen or partition between stable stalls.

In a sentence

The skiff at the bank bore a strange rigging of uprights and crosspoles and a travis bar with lines and hooks hanging from it.

1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree

Where it comes from

Alteration of traverse.