Rowel

WORD OF THE DAY

rowel /verb / ROWL

Definition
1: to goad with or as if with a pointed disk at the end of a spur
2: vex, trouble

Examples
"He folded the book shut, touched his hat, moved to the wagon, and roweled the horses around."
— Colum McCann, TransAtlantic, 2013

"Then suddenly he found himself at the end of his money.… Hunger rode him and roweled him. He was no longer well fed, comfortable."
— Frank Norris, McTeague, 1899

Did You Know?
If you've seen Western movies, you've seen rowels. The noun rowel names the circular, point-covered disk on the end of a spur that is used to urge powerful steeds to maximum speeds. But cowboys didn't invent rowels; knights in shining armor were sporting them even before the 12th century.
English speakers of yore picked up the noun rowel from the Anglo-French roele, meaning "small wheel." It wasn't until the 16th century that rowel began to be used as a verb for the act of spurring a horse with a rowel.
By the 19th century, rowel was being used as a verb for any process of prodding or goading that was as irritating as being poked in the side with a rowel.