cowhide

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   strong leather made from the skin of a cow

   The work boots were made from thick cowhide and lasted for years.

2. 2
   noun

   the skin of a cow, either untreated or with the hair still attached

   A cured cowhide covered the wooden floor in front of the fire.

3. 3
   noun

   historical: a heavy whip made from strips of cowhide

   The museum displayed a braided cowhide beside other ranching tools.

4. 4
   verb

   historical: to flog someone with a cowhide whip

   The overseer threatened to cowhide any worker who resisted.

A compound of cow and hide. The original noun denotes the animal's skin and the leather made from it. Because tough strips of that leather were braided into whips, cowhide also became the name of such a whip and, by conversion, a verb meaning to flog with one.

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