Her gloomy presence saddens all the scene

Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 167. Accursed be he who willingly saddens an immortal spirit. Marg. Fuller, Woman in 19th Cent., p. 27. 3. To make dark-colored; specifically, in dyc ing and calico - printing , to tone down or shade (the colors employed) by the application of certain agents, as salts of iron, copper, or bichromate of potash. For saddening olives, drabs, clarets, ., and for cotton blacks, it [copperas] has been generally discarded in favour of nitrate of iron. W. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 535. saddle (sad'l), n. [ ME. sadel , sadul , sadel = OD. sadel , D. zadel = MLG. LG. sadel = OHG. satal , satul , MHG. satel , G. sattel = Icel. söthull = Sw. Dan. sadel , a saddle; perhaps of Slavic origin: cf. OBulg. Serv. Bohem. sedlo Pol. siodlo = Ru . siedlo , a saddle (Finn. satula , a saddle, perhaps sad , sit: see sit . Cf. L. sella (for * sedla ), a seat, chair, saddle (see scll2 ), sedile , a chair, from the same root.] 1. A contrivance secured on the back of a horse or other animal, to serve as a seat for a rider or for supporting goods packed for transportation. (a) The seat of wood or leather provided for a rider, especially on horseback: as, war- saddle , IMG:content-2684.png:[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small] A , English riding-saddle: B , ladies' saddle, or side-saddle; C. McClellan saddle; D , cowboy saddle; E , saddletree. a , seat; b jockey; c, c ', pad; d , skirt; e, girth; /, stirrup; g , pommel; h , kneepuff; 4, thigh-puff; k, cinch 7, cantle; m , horn. hunting- saddle , racing- saddle , side- saddle , McClellan sad dle , Mexican saddle . The riders' saddle has differed greatly in construction and in use among different nations and at different times, especially as to the length of the stirrups and the posture of the rider. "My lorde," he seid, "that ye will in this nede Chaunge my Sadyll and sett it on this stede." Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2254. The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia saddle In the same Cite I sold my horse, and my sadyll and brydell. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 5. (b) A part of the harne used for drawing a vehicle. It is a narrow padded cushion laid acro the back, and girded under the belly, and is usually held in place by a strap which pa es under and around the tail: the shafts or thills are supported by it, the reins pa through rings attached to it, and the check-rein or bearing-rein is hooked to it. (c) A pack-saddle. See cuts under harne and pad-tree. 2. A seat prepared for a rider otherwise than on the back of an animal, but resembling an ordinary riding-saddle in design and use, as the seat on a bicycle. - 3. Something resembling a saddle, or part of a saddle, in shape or use. ( a ) In geol., a folded ma of rock in which the strata dip on each side away from a central axis-plane; an anticlinal. It is a pretty high island, and very remarkable, by reason of two saddles or risings and fallings on the top. Dampier, Voyages, an. 1684. (b) Naut., a contrivance of wood notched or hollowed out and used to support a spar, as a wooden saddle-crutch is sometimes used to support the weight of the spanker-boom. (c) In mach., a block with a hollowed top to sustain a round object, as a rod, upon a bench or bed. (d) A block, usually of cast-iron, at the top of a pier of a suspension bridge, over which pa the suspension-cables or-chains which support the bridge platform. The saddle rests upon IMG:content-2686.png:[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small] A, saddle; B, elevation of one half of length; C, section of one half of width. a, cable; c, saddle; d, bed-plate; e, steel rollers upon which the saddle rests; f, f', cradles supporting the over floor stays, g; h, studs cast on the bed-plate, around which are looped other over floor stays; i, i, temporary bearings for supports of strands in constructing the cable. At the completion of each strand it is lowered into the saddle. The saddles each weigh thirteen tons. rollers, beneath which is a bed bearing upon the top of the pier. The rollers permit a slight movement that compensates for the contractions and expansions of the cables under varying temperatures, which, if the saddle were rigidly secured to the pier, would tend to le en its stability. (e) In rail., the bearing in the axle-box of a carriage; also, a chair or seat for the rails. See cut under axle - box. (f) In building, a thin board placed on the floor in the opening of a doorway, the width of the jambs. (g) In zoöl. and an at., some part or configuration of parts like or likened to a saddle. Specifically - (1) The cingulum or clitellum of a worm. (2) A peculiar mark on or modification of the carapace of some crustaceans. See ephip pium. (3) The color-mark on the back of the male harpseal, Phoca ( Pagophilus ) grænlandica. (4) Of mutton, veal, or venison, a butchers' cut including a part of the backbone with the ribs on one side. (5) In cephalopods, one of the elevations or saliencies of the sutures of a tetrabranchiate, separated from another by an intervening depre ion or reëntrance called a lobe. (6) In poultry, the rump, or lower part of the back, which in the cock is covered with long linear hackles technically called saddle feathers, which droop on each side of the root of the tail; also, these feathers collectively. See saddle -feathers. In bot., in the leaves of Isoetes, a ridge separating the fovea and foveola. (i) A notched support into the rece es or notches of which a gun is laid to hold it steadily in drilling the vent or bouching. ()) In gun - making, the base of the foresight of a gun, which is soldered or brazed to the barrel. Boots and saddles. See boot. Ra cing-saddle, a small saddle of very light weight, used in horse-racing.- The great saddlet, the training required for accomplished or knightly horsemanship. See to ride the great horse, under ride. The designe is admirable, some keeping neere an hundred brave horses, all managed to y ' greate saddle . Evelyn , Diary, April 1, 1644. To put the saddle on the right horse, to impute blame where it is justly deserved. [Colloq.] - Turkish saddle, the sella Turcica or pituitary fo a of the sphenoid bone. -War-saddle, a saddle used by mounted warriors, serving by its form to give such a seat as may best facilitate War-saddle of the 14th century. (From Viollet-le-Duc's "Dict. du Mobilier français.") IMG:content-2687.png:[blocks in formation] Thei ronne to here armes, that yet were in her beddys, and hadde no leyser hem to clothe, and that was yet a faire happe for hem that her horses were redy sadellyd . Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 153. And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his a . Gen. xxii. 3. 2. To load; encumber as with a burden; also, to impose as a burden. Yes, Jack, the independence I was talking of is by a marriage the fortune is saddled with a wife - but I suppose that makes no difference. Sheridan , The Rivals, ii. 1. If you like not my company, you can saddle yourself on some one else. R. L. Stevens on, Master of Ballantrae, ii. saddleback (sad'l-bak), п. 1. A hill or its summit when shaped somewhat like a saddle. -2. A bastard kind of oyster, unfit for food; a racoon-oyster.-3. The great black-backed gull: same as black back , 1.-4. The harp-seal: so called from the mark on the back. Rink says a full-grown saddle - back weighs about 250 lbs. Ca ell's Nat. Hist., II. 236. ( Encyc. Dict.) 5. A variety of domestic geese, white, with dark feathers on the back like a saddle. - 6. The larva of the bombycid moth Empretia stimulea: Saddleback Caterpillar (larva of Empretia stimulea). a, dorsal surface; b, lateral surface. (Natural size, full-grown.) so called on account of the saddle-like markings on the back. It feeds on cotton, corn, and many perennial trees and shrubs, and po e es a fringe of bris tles which have urticating properties. [U. S.] - Saddleback roof. Same as saddle-roof.