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If you've seen Western movies, you've seen rowels. The noun rowel names the circular, point-covered disk on the end of a spur that is used to urge powerful steeds to maximum speeds. But cowboys didn't invent rowels; knights in shining armor were sporting them even before the 12th century. English speakers of yore picked up the noun rowel from the Anglo-French roele, meaning "small wheel." It wasn't until the 16th century that rowel began to be used as a verb for the act of spurring a horse with a rowel. By the 19th century, rowel was being used as a verb for any process of prodding or goading that was as irritating as being poked in the side with a rowel.
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“Rowel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rowel. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
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