gee string

plural gee strings

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of G-string.
2. The right hand or off side rein on a team of horses, mules, bullocks etc

   Sometimes the nucleus of the cloud would be a five-horse team, driven single file by the device known as a gee string by two or more men.

   1936 September 10, Berthe K. Mellett, “This Horse Brought God to Me”, in The Christian Register, Boston, Mass., page 2

   4 more examples

   a ten-in-hand bull team came down South A street .... The off bull on the "gee" string bowed his glossy neck and champed his bit impatiently,

   1877 March 29, “Taking a Spin”, in The Daily Leader, Cheyenne, Wyo., page 1

   I will say a "gee string" is a long rein used on government wagon trains for the most part. The driver by a single jerk guides the horses or mules.

   1904 September 9, H. W. McManus, “In the West”, in The Black Hills Union and Western Stock Review, Rapid City, S.Dak., page 1

   To get them to obey a command, you used the jerk-line, and you'd holler "Gee" or "Haw," different syllables so they wouldn't get mixed up. Gee was to the right and Haw was to the left. If you wanted to go Gee, you jerked on the line that had the Gee string, fastened on a small strap to the collar, and it would throw their heads up, and they'd turn that way. And Haw, you just pulled on it easy.

   1983, Anne Foley Scheuring, Tillers, An Oral History of Family Farms in California, page 39

   Most drivers use two lines to drive a team of horses, and those lines are known as the "gee" and the "haw" strings. Jack drove with one hand using only the right or "gee" string.

   1999, Lori Van Pelt, Dreamers & Schemers, page 167

3. Line or rope connecting dog-team to sled

   The gee string (rope by which dog team is attached to front of sled) is then unsnapped

   November, 1909, Jack Lee, “A Hunter's Story of the Klondike”, in The Outdoor Life, Denver, Co., page 474

   1 more example

   From this is a rope running back to the sled, which, passing, as it must, between the driver's legs, necessitates the acquiring of a peculiar gait, for with each turn the dogs make — as the trail curves from side to side — the driver has to keep his feet moving from this side to that of the 'gee' string, as it is called, or he will be thrown down.

   1897, The Chicago Record's Book for Gold Seekers, page 326

4. Chin strap of a hat

   "Gee" strings are now worn on hat bands by the U dudes of the camp.

   1890 June 19, Jake, “From the Reservation”, in The Sturgis Advertiser, Sturgis, Dakota, page 4

   2 more examples

   There are a few men that wear their pistols exposed for the same reason that some wear diamond breast pins, or a cowboy hat with a gee-string hanging down the back of his neck.

   1885 July 23, The St. Johns Herald, St Johns, Arizona, page 2

   Monte yanks us out o' Benton, strings his six across the flat,/Heads 'em down the trail for Billings, sets the gee-string on his hat,

   1940, Johnny Ritch, HorseFeathers, page 14