bridle hand

American  

noun

1. (of a horseback rider) the hand, usually the left hand, that holds both reins or both pairs of reins, leaving the other hand free to manage a whip, crop, lariat, or the like.

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Etymology

Origin of bridle hand

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bridle hand

Then, head bowed, eyes fixed on her bridle hand, the other hand, ungloved, lying hotly unresponsive in his, she rode slowly forward at his side.

From The Firing Line by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)

Farron carefully wrapped the blanket about her tiny feet and legs, and with a prayer on his lips and a clasp of the sergeant's bridle hand he bade him go.

From Starlight Ranch and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier by King, Charles

But as they wheeled their horses on guard with a touch of the bridle hand, I saw John Scarlet, Wat's master of fence, flash a look at his scholar's guard-sword.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

I was not sure of my way; I had a hurt in my bridle hand, and evening was approaching, heralded by an icy rain and a cold, searching wind.

From The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage, and Other Tales by Durivage, Francis A. (Francis Alexander)

Roden’s meditations took to themselves wings, and drawing his revolver, as more convenient at close quarters than the rifle, shifted the latter into his bridle hand, and sat for a moment intently listening.

From A Veldt Official A Novel of Circumstance by Mitford, Bertram