Rowell

Part of speech: noun, verb, adjective

Definitions

1. A wheel with sharp points attached to a spur used to urge a horse forward ; to prick or goad a horse with such a device
2. The toothed wheel fixed to a rider's spur for driving a horse ; to use a spur with such a wheel to make a horse move faster
3. A spiked rotating disc on a spur that pricks an animal ; to urge a horse onward by pricking it with a roweled spur

Etymology: The spiked wheel on a horseman's spur was named for its shape: Latin "rota" meant "wheel," and its diminutive "rotella" gave Old French "roel" or "roelle," a little wheel. These reached English in the Middle Ages as "rouel," and "rowell" is a variant spelling of the same word. The rowel is a toothed or spiked disc on an axle, so when the rider's spur moves, the wheel turns against the horse's flank. The same Latin root also gave English "rota," a schedule arranged in turns, and "rotary."