crowd stick n Also crowding stick chiefly Midl, but esp freq neWV, nwMD
= jockey stick n.
1863 in 1995 Craig Hist. Furnishings Rpt. Building 34/35 130 neWV, [From inventory of a general store:] 2 crowd sticks. 1865 Sacramento Daily Union (CA) 27 Nov 6/5 OR, The advantages of the left-hand plow are as follows: That it puts the near side horse in the furrow, and he should be broke to work with single line. . . The off one should work with a crowding stick and coupling strap. 1875 Herald & Torch-Light (Hagerstown MD) [27 Jan 3]/2, [Advt:] Treble, double and single Trees, 2 Crowd Sticks, Breast and Short Traces [etc]. 1892 Monticello Herald (IN) 22 Sept [8]/2, The “crowding stick” (i. e. jockey stick) has been kept very busy in this township this fall, and as a consequence more than the usual acreage of wheat is being sowed. 1894 Chadron Recorder (NE) [1 Feb 2]/1, Why doesn’t the champion of high protection put a crowding-stick on his feet to keep them away from his mouth? 1895 Marion Daily Star (OH) 2 May 2/2 swOH (as of 1840s), The plan was to mark off land by a furrow drawn through the center of it and to turn all the time to the right with the use of the single line and “crowding stick.” 1907 Mercersburg Jrl. (PA) 16 Aug 1/6, A single strap joined the mouths of the two horses and the double line joined each outside ring of the bridle. . . Upon inquiry I found that this is the custom among most of the farmers of this vicinity [=Collegeville PA]. They smiled when I tried to explain to them the “jerk line’[’], the “crowding stick” and the plow that turns the soil to the left. 1913 Martinsburg Statesman–Democrat (WV) [31 Jan 8]/7, [Advt:] Farming Implements. . . single, double and treble trees; crowd sticks. 1943 Montgomery Co. Sentinel (Rockville MD) 18 Mar 6/3, [Advt:] Single, double and triple trees, crowd sticks [etc]. 1954 Franklin Favorite (KY) 2 Sept 4/4, I’d feel as if I had missed a lot if I hadn’t followed Dad around enough to find out that . . when three mules are hitched to the same tool, a crowding stick is a necessary addition to the harness. 1976 Morning Herald (Hagerstown MD) 17 Mar 40/6, [Advt:] Antique Farm Tools and Implements. . . yoke, crowd sticks, horse muzzle, sickle [etc]. 1988 Coile My Grandparent Ancestors 69 swOH (as of 1920s), At the age of nine . . he was put on a horse with as many as two other horses controlled by crowd sticks to plow, harrow, cultipack, haul hay and many other things that a horse could pull.