axletree

American  

[ak-suhl-tree] / ˈæk səlˌtri /

noun

1. a bar, fixed crosswise under an animal-drawn vehicle, with a rounded spindle at each end upon which a wheel rotates.

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axletree British  

/ ˈæksəlˌtriː /

noun

1. a bar fixed across the underpart of a wagon or carriage that has rounded ends on which the wheels revolve

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Etymology

Origin of axletree

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; axle, tree

Example Sentences

From the forks of the Platte to the valley of the Sacramento, there is not a stick of growing timber that would make a decent axe-helve, much less a substantial axletree.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various

Yen translated rapidly, scurrying along behind his sentences like a carriage dog beneath an axletree.

From Mortmain by Train, Arthur Cheny

We often sank into mud-holes above the axletree; then, over trunks of trees laid across swamps, called here corduroy roads, were my poor bones dislocated.

From Sketches in Canada, and rambles among the red men by Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)

From that time they went on more slowly; so much so that, in the neighbourhood of Gauburge, the axletree broke, and the waggon remained tilted over.

From Bouvard and Pécuchet A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life by Flaubert, Gustave

So was the barrel of water, standing just back of the rear axletree.

From The Young Surveyor; or Jack on the Prairies by Trowbridge, J. T. (John Townsend)