Word.ws English Dictionary

balling-iron

balling-iron noun: a piece of shaped metal that forces the mouth of an animal to stay open.

Noun

balling-iron (plural balling-irons)

  1. A piece of shaped metal that forces the mouth of an animal to stay open.
    • After a due examination of the mouth has been made, and we have selected the tooth to be operated upon, the animal should be restrained by means of a twitch, and a balling-iron ought then to be placed in the mouth . The common open balling-iron will answer the purpose, but the one I would recommend...1851, The Veterinarian: A Monthly Journal of Veterinary Science, page 635
    • It is necessary at times to give a medicinal ball to a horse, and as few grooms are expert at administering a ball without assistance, a balling-iron affords them that assistance.1858, James Slight, Robert Scott Burn, Henry Stephens, The Book of Farm Implements and Machines, page 532

Examples of balling-iron in a sentence

  • The common open balling-iron will answer the purpose, but the one I would recommend you to use is that invented by Mr.1851, The Veterinarian: A Monthly Journal of Veterinary Science, page 635:
  • The man using a balling-iron has, therefore, to guard himself from blows rapidly dealt with the fore hoofs of a desperate animal.1876, Edward Mayhew, Mayhew's Illustrated Horse Management, page 42:

Forms of balling-iron

pluralballing-irons

Origin of balling-iron

Named for its original use in forcing open the mouth of an animal for balling.

Questions about balling-iron

What does balling-iron mean?
Balling-iron means a piece of shaped metal that forces the mouth of an animal to stay open.
How do you use balling-iron in a sentence?
The common open balling-iron will answer the purpose, but the one I would recommend you to use is that invented by Mr.
What part of speech is balling-iron?
Balling-iron is a noun.
What is the plural of balling-iron?
The plural of balling-iron is balling-irons.

Words near balling-iron in the dictionary

  1. balling it off
  2. balling off
  3. balling out
  4. Balling scale
  5. balling up
  6. balling-iron
  7. balling-irons
  8. Ballingarrane
  9. ballinger
  10. ballingers
  11. Ballingham

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: balling-iron (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “balling-iron.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/balling-iron. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.