Meanings
plural whippletrees · alternative whipple-tree · alternative whipple tree
- A wooden crossbar for a plough or carriage, pivoted in the middle, from which traces are fastened to a draught animal.
Like the whippletree, the wheelbarrow only became known in the Middle Ages.
1964, Albert C. Leighton, Early Medieval Transport, page 1282 more examples
The single whippletree should have a chain attached to bring it out even with the other two.
1889, George E. Blakelee, Blakelee's Industrial Cyclopedia, page 364Note the two-horse whippletree on the beam at the lower left. (A whippletree, of which this is the simplest possible, balances the load on the animals.)
2016, Steven Vogel, Why the Wheel Is Round: Muscles, Technology, and How We Make Things Move, →ISBNSynonyms: splinter bar, swinglebar, swingletree, whiffletree
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA wooden crossbar for a plough or carriage, pivoted in the middle, from which traces are fastened to a draught animal.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna crossbar that is attached to the traces of a draft horse and to the vehicle or implement that the horse is pulling
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
whippletree. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whippletree
“whippletree.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whippletree. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whippletree,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whippletree.
Source: whippletree on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.