heeler

English

Etymology

From heel +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

heeler (plural heelers)

1. A gamecock that strikes well with its heels or spurs.
2. A quick runner.
   • 1891, Banjo Paterson, An Evening in Dandaloo:

     That a crowd of Sydney stealers,
     Jockeys, pugilists and spielers
     Brought some horses, real heelers,
     Came and put us through.

3. A dog that readily comes to heel.
   • 1999, Ted Baer, Communicating with Your Dog: A Humane Approach to Dog Training:

     If your dog is a good heeler, you'll find some competition in the obedience ring.

4. (Australia) A dog used for cattle droving.
   • 1952, Nevil Shute, chapter 5, in The Far Country, Melbourne: Heinemann:

     [A] blue roan, a kind of dog that Jennifer had never seen before. She asked Tim what it was, and he said it was a "heeler", but when she pressed him to say if that was a breed or not, he could not tell her. It was a heeler because it went for the heels of the cattle and not their heads, apparently.

5. (US, slang, politics, dated) A dependent and subservient hanger-on of a political patron.
   • 1886, Theodore Roosevelt, “Machine Politics”, in The Century:

     The army of hungry heelers who do their bidding.

6. The rodeo performer who ropes the steer by its hind feet after the header has turned it.
7. (US) A student journalist at Yale University.

Derived terms

• blue heeler
• Lancashire Heeler
• ward heeler

 

Anagrams

• reheel