Kimblewick

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A leverage bit for horses that combines a mouthpiece with a curb chain and a pair of rings for the reins
2. A horse's mouthpiece fitted with a curb chain, used by riders to give steering and stopping pressure
3. Equestrian tack consisting of a curb-style bit with rings and a chain that acts on the horse's mouth and jaw

Etymology: A kimblewick is a horse's curb bit, and its name points to a specific place: the English town of Kimblewick, in Buckinghamshire, where this style of bit was first made. Bit-making was a trade shaped by local workshops, and a bit that took its name from a town was, in effect, a regional product that became known well beyond it. The name is a straightforward geographic one. Makers and buyers in the horse trade came to call the bit after the place of its origin, the same way other goods have been named for their towns. Nothing more about the word's history is recorded in the source, so the place-name is the whole of its story.