Crupper
//ˈkɹʊpəɹ// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A strap, looped under a horse's tail, used to stop a saddle from slipping.
"Our knight did bear no less a pack / Of his own buttocks on his back: / Which now had almost got the upper- / Hand of his head, for want of crupper."
- 2 a strap from the back of a saddle passing under the horse's tail; prevents saddle from slipping forward wordnet
- 3 The buttocks or rump, especially of a horse.
- 4 A piece of armour covering the hindquarters/buttocks of a horse.
Verb
- 1 To fit with a crupper; to place a crupper upon.
"to crupper a horse"
Example
More examples"Our knight did bear no less a pack / Of his own buttocks on his back: / Which now had almost got the upper- / Hand of his head, for want of crupper."
Etymology
From Middle English croper, crouper, from Anglo-Norman cruper, cropere, from Old French cropiere, crupiere, from the same Germanic root as croup. Doublet of croupiere.
More for "crupper"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.