stirrups

Noun

stirrup (plural stirrups)

1. A ring or hoop suspended by a rope or strap from the saddle, for a horseman's foot while mounting or riding.
   • With what different feelings did he now put foot in stirrup to the last time when he sprung to horse?1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 36–37
2. (broadly) Any piece shaped like the stirrup of a saddle, used as a support, clamp, etc.
   • Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
   1. (broadly) A portable, flexible ladder-like device used in climbing.
3. A stapes.
4. A rope secured to a yard, with a thimble in its lower end for supporting a footrope.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:stirrup.
5. A bent rebar wrapped around the main rebars to reinforce against shear stress.

See all 8 meanings of stirrup