rowel means A small spiked wheel on the end of a spur of certain types. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
rowel is pronounced /ˈɹoʊəl/.
Etymology
From Middle English rowel, rowell, rowelle, from Old French roel, roiele (compare modern French rouelle), from Late Latin rotella, diminutive of Latin rota (“wheel”). Doublet of rotella.
noun
- A small spiked wheel on the end of a spur of certain types.“I / Perceive 'tis an advantage for a man to vvear ſpurres, / The rovvell of Knight-hood does gingle in the eare of their / Vnderſtanding.”
- A little flat ring or wheel on a horse's bit.“The iron rowels into frothy foam he bit.”
- A roll of hair, silk, etc., passed through the flesh of a horse in the manner of a seton in human surgery.
verb
- To use a rowel on (something), especially to drain fluid.
- To fit with spurs.
- To apply the spur to.“to rowel a horse”
- To incite; to goad.“He would have been completely ignorant of what was going on if Frank, periodically roweled by the viciously anti-labor stand of the Pittsburgh newspapers, hadn't felt the need of an audience.”