heel-ropev.
/ˈhiːlrəʊp/, U.S. /ˈhilˌroʊp/ Now rare.
transitive. To tie up (a horse or mule) by the hind leg or legs in order to prevent kicking or straying. Cf. heel rope n. 2.
ΚΠ
1842 Ainsworth's Mag. 1 220 My attendants.., having heel-roped their horses, let them loose to pasture in the meadow.
1890 R. Kipling in Fortn. Rev. 47 357 Even the stallion too long heel-roped, forgets how to fight.
1904 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 29 May 10/6 In camp the horses are tied to picket lines as in our army, but they stand near enough to one another to make fighting easy, and as they are not heel roped, that is the main occupation.
1941 News (Adelaide) 24 Feb. 8 Usually the horses settle down quickly, but they will be heel-roped tonight.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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