Strickles

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A straight wooden bar drawn across the top of a measure to level off excess grain ; a coarse stone used to hone the edge of a scythe blade
2. A flat wooden rod pulled over a container to scrape away surplus grain so the measure is exact ; a rough abrasive stone for sharpening the blade of a mowing scythe
3. A levelling board used to sweep extra grain from a grain measure ; a gritty whetstone that farmers rub along a scythe to keep its edge keen

Etymology: "Strickles" is the plural of "strickle", a wooden bar used to level grain or other material in a measure, or in foundry work to smooth moulding sand. The singular has been in use since Old English as "stricel", a diminutive formed from "strick", a word for a stroke or a stick, with the little suffix "-le" added. The sense of a small stick that draws across a surface to level it has stayed close to that original idea. The word also has relatives on the Continent: Middle Dutch had "strijkel" and "streekel", which point to a shared Germanic root. Its later English forms, "strikile" and "strikelle", show the word passing through the Middle English period with its spelling still shifting. The plural "strickles" simply names more than one of these bars.