DCHP-1 Online

lariat [< Am. E < Sp. la riata, reata rope, tether]

• 1 † n. originally, a long halter or tether of braided rawhide or horsehair; now, usually, a lasso.

  See also: lasso ((n.))  

  • 1835  [Coils of cordage at his saddle-bow, which [we] were told were lariats, or noosed cords, used in catching the wild horse.]
  • 1873  (1904)  Its skin gave him a house, its robe a blanket and a bed, its undressed hide a boat . . . its leather a lariat for his horse, a saddle, bridle, rein, and bit.
  • 1919  . . . Carney dropped the rein from over the horse's head to the ground, took his lariat from the saddle-horn, hung the two pack-bags over his shoulder, and . . . slipped through the bush. . . .
  • 1962  Already Marvin was rolling down his lariat.

• 2 n. Obs. any long rope.

  • 1909  At times these lightened boats were poled or tracked through the broken water, towed by the men, from such foothold as the rocky banks afforded, by means of a long lariat tied to the boat's bow, with loops over each trackman's shoulder, one man steering with a long sweep.