quirt

plural quirts

1. A rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide.

   He paused a moment and flicked a sage-brush with his quirt.

   1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 3, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC

   5 more examples

   He sprang into the saddle easily as a bird, got the quirt from the horn, and gave his pony a slash with it.

   1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 177, column 2

   […] when the young man whirled his horse, “hazed” Jupiter in circles and belaboured him with a rawhide quirt, […] He ceased his cavortings […]

   1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter I, in The Understanding Heart

   No gunshot wounds, Barricune observed, but marks of kicks, and couple that must have been made with a quirt.

   1949, Dorothy M. Johnson, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 92

   He wore a revolver down low, with ammunition belt, and carried a small quirt of some kind, and pieces of leather hanging everywhere, like a walking torture chamber: shiny shoes, low-hanging jacket, cocky hat, everything but boots.

   1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC

   She raised the handle of her beautiful quirt to her eyes and scanned the Western horizon.

   1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin, published 2001, page 96

present singular third person quirts · participle present quirting · participle past quirted · past quirted

1. To strike with a quirt.

   Synonyms: whip