saddle

noun

1. a seat for a rider on the back of a horse or other animal.
2. a similar seat on a bicycle, tractor, etc.
3. a part of a harness laid across the back of an animal and girded under the belly, to which the terrets and checkhook are attached.
4. something resembling a saddle in shape, position, or function.
5. the part of the back of an animal where a saddle is placed.
6. 1. (of mutton, venison, lamb, etc.) a cut comprising both loins.
   2. this cut, trimmed and prepared for roasting.
7. (of poultry) the posterior part of the back.
8. a ridge connecting two higher elevations.
9. the covering of a roof ridge.
10. bolster(def 7).
11. a raised piece of flooring between the jambs of a doorway.
12. an inverted bracket bearing on the axle of a railroad car wheel as a support for the car body.
13. Ordnance. the support for the trunnion on some gun carriages.
14. Machinery. a sliding part for spanning a space or other parts to support something else, as the cross slide and toolholder of a lathe.
15. a strip of leather, often of a contrasting color, sewn on the vamp or instep of a shoe and extending to each side of the shank.
16. saddle shoe.
17. Ceramics. a bar of refractory clay, triangular in section, for supporting one side of an object being fired.
18. (in a suspension bridge) a member at the top of a tower for supporting a cable.

verb (used with object), sad·dled, sad·dling.

19. to put a saddle on: to saddle a horse.
20. to load or charge, as with a burden: He has saddled himself with a houseful of impecunious relatives.
21. to impose as a burden or responsibility.

verb (used without object), sad·dled, sad·dling.

22. to put a saddle on a horse (often followed by up).
23. to mount into the saddle (often followed by up).

Idioms

24. in the saddle,
    1. in a position to direct or command; in control.
    2. at work; on the job.

noun

1. a seat for a rider, usually made of leather, placed on a horse’s back and secured with a girth under the belly
2. a similar seat on a bicycle, tractor, etc, made of leather or steel
3. a back pad forming part of the harness of a packhorse
4. anything that resembles a saddle in shape, position, or function
5. a cut of meat, esp mutton, consisting of part of the backbone and both loins
6. the part of a horse or similar animal on which a saddle is placed
7. the part of the back of a domestic chicken that is nearest to the tail
8. civil engineering a block on top of one of the towers of a suspension bridge that acts as a bearing surface over which the cables or chains pass
9. engineering the carriage that slides on the bed of a lathe and supports the slide rest, tool post, or turret
10. the nontechnical name for clitellum
11. another name for col (def. 1)
12. a raised piece of wood or metal for covering a doorsill
13. in the saddle in a position of control

verb

14. (sometimes foll by up) to put a saddle on (a horse)
15. (intr) to mount into the saddle
16. (tr) to burden; chargeI didn’t ask to be saddled with this job

n.Old English sadol “seat for a rider,” from Proto-Germanic *sathulaz (cf. Old Norse söðull, Old Frisian sadel, Dutch zadel, zaal, German Sattel “saddle”), from PIE *sed- (1) “to sit” (cf. Latin sedere “to sit,” Old Church Slavonic sedlo “saddle;” see sedentary). Figurative phrase in the saddle “in an active position of management” is attested from 1650s. Saddle stitch (n.) was originally in bookbinding (1887). v.Old English sadolian “to put a riding saddle on;” see saddle (n.). The meaning “to load with a burden” is first recorded 1690s. Related: Saddled; saddling. n.

1. A structure shaped like a saddle.

In addition to the idiom beginning with saddle

saddle someone with

also see:

in the driver’s seat (saddle)