thill horse (thilhors)

[Also dial. fill - horse, sometimes spelled irreg. phillhorse; It is generally bell-shaped, but as used in some trades is open at the end. The sailmakers' thimble (usually spelled thummel) consists of a kind of ring worn on the thumb, and having a small disk like the seal of a ring, with small depre ions for the needle. Hast thou ne'er a Bra Thimble clinking in thy Pocket? Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 3. I sing the Thimble armour of the fair! Ramsay, The Thimble. 2. In mech., a sleeve, skein, tube, bushing, or ferrule used to join the ends of pipes, shafting, etc., or to fill an opening, expand a tube, cover an axle, etc. It is made in a variety of shapes, and is called thimble - joint, thimble - coupling, thimble - skein, etc. See cut under coupling. 3. Naut., an iron or bra ring, concave on the outside so as to fit in a rope, block-strap, cringle, etc., and prevent chafe, as well as to preserve shape; also, an iron ring attached to the end of drag-ropes. - Clue thimble, a metal sheath or guard serving to prevent wear or chafing of the rope forming the eye of a sail. - Fairy thimble, the foxglove, is purpure a. Britten and Holland. [Prov. Eng.] - Thimble and Bodkin Army, in Eng. hist., a name given by the Royalists during the Civil War to the Parliamentarian army, in contemptuous allusion to an alleged source of their supplies. See the quotation. The nobles being profuse in their contributions of plate for the service of the king [Charles I.] at Oxford, while on the parliamentary side the subscriptions of silver offerings included even such little personal articles as those that suggested the term the Thimble and Bodkin Army . S. Dowell , Taxes in England, II. 3. Witches'-thimble, the fox-glove, is The name is also given to several other plants. Britten and Holland. [Prov. Eng.] (See also carbine - thimble.) thimbleberry (thim'bl-ber"i), n.; pl. thimble berries (-iz). See raspberry, 2.