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withers
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
withers
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a plant withers (=becomes drier and starts to die)
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Check that the saddle fits correctly and is neither too low on the withers or spine.
▪ Distance from withers to elbow and elbow to ground is equal.
▪ The chest depth should be neither more, nor very much less, than 50 percent of the height of the withers.
▪ The country was bracken-clothed dunes, the plants so tall that they came over the horse's withers in places.
▪ The last word in lace and satin withers like a bunch of flowers.
▪ The metal survives whilst the flesh withers.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Withers

Withers \With"ers\, n. pl. [Properly, the parts which resist the pull or strain in drawing a load; fr. OE. wither resistance, AS. wi[eth]re, fr. wi[eth]er against; akin to G. widerrist withers. See With, prep.] The ridge between the shoulder bones of a horse, at the base of the neck. See Illust. of Horse.

Let the galled jade wince; our withers are unwrung.
--Shak.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
withers

1570s, probably from a dialectal survival of Old English wiðer "against, contrary, opposite" (see with) + plural suffix. Usually said to be so called because the withers are the parts of the animal that oppose the load. Compare German Widerrist "withers," from wider "against" + Rist "wrist."

Wiktionary
withers

n. (context veterinary medicine English) The part of the back of a four-legged animal that is between the shoulder blades; in many species the highest point of the body and the standard place to measure the animal's height. vb. (en-third-person singular of: wither)

WordNet
withers

  1. n. sensibility to trouble (as in the phrase `wring one's withers'); "the lawsuit was wringing his withers"; "our withers are unwrung"--Shakespeare

  2. the highest part of the back at the base of the neck of various animals especially draft animals

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Withers

The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height (in contrast, cattle are normally measured to the top of the hips).

Withers (surname)

Withers — earlier Wither, Wyther — is an English surname of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is today a not uncommon family name throughout the Anglosphere.

Withers (disambiguation)

The withers is a part of the back of a horse, dog or other quadruped.

Withers or Wither may also refer to:

Usage examples of "withers".

As it withers, the many-pointed leaf of the white bryony and the bine as it shrivels, in like manner, do their part.

Mr Boffin, who hear it, rejoiced within himself, comforting himself with the reflection that his withers were unwrung, and thinking with what pleasure he might carry the anecdote into the farthest corners of the clubs.