Also 9 wabble, wurble. [Of uncertain origin; cf. MSw. varbulde boil, f. var pus (see WARE sb.6) + bulde tumor; also WARBOT, WARIBREED, and the dial. names for the warble-maggot, warback (Orkney), warbeetle (Norf.), warbie (Sc.), warblet (Suff.); and worbitten (Suff.), pierced by the larvæ of beetles (said of growing timber).]
1. A small hard tumor, caused by the pressure of the saddle on a horse’s back. Usually pl.
1607. Markham, Cavel., III. (1617). 78. You shall bathe his backe where the Saddle stood, which will keep him from warbles.
1705. Lond. Gaz., No. 4178/4. A … Gelding near 14 hands high,… a Warble newly broke on the off side of his Back.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 161. The first [Horse] will fret, gall, and be full of Warbles, with even the least Journey.
1831. Youatt, Horse, ix. 169. The little tumours resulting from the pressure of the saddle are called warbles, and when they ulcerate they frequently become sitfasts.
2. A small tumor or swelling on the back of cattle, deer, etc., produced by the larva of a gad-fly (see 3).
a. 1585. Montgomerie, Flyting, 314. Þe mair, the migram,… the warbillis, þe wood-worme.
1808. Jamieson, Warble,… a swelling on the back of a cow or ox, A. Bor. [i.e., North of England].
1834. Youatt, Cattle, xix. 574. A great many of the cattle in the same pasture will have only a few warbles on their backs, while others will, in a manner, be covered with them.
1880. Times, 27 Sept., 4/6. Then, graziers are appealed to in order to prevent the hides of the living animals being injured by ‘warbles,’ produced by parasitic insects.
3. The gadfly or its larva which produces ‘warbles.’ Cf. warble-fly in 4.
1808. Jamieson, Warble, a sort of worm that breeds betwixt the outer and inner skin of beasts, S.
1810. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 4), VIII. 495/1. The larvæ of the Oestrus bovis are commonly known to the country people by the names of wormils, or wormuls, or warbles.
1814. Illustr. North. Antiq., 404. The hole … (which has probably been made by a warble) in the skin of a beast that has been elf-shot.
1886. Daily News, 5 May, 3/5. The warble, or bot fly … strikes the cattle in the summer months, depositing its eggs upon the skin, or hair.
1889. Rep. U.S. Dept. Agric., I. 215 (Cent.). A very large percentage [or fifty chipmunks] … were infested with wabbles.
4. attrib. and Comb., as warble-hole, -lump, -maggot, -tumour; warble-fly (see 3).
1877. J. G. Wood, Nat. Teaching, Usef. Arts, vii. 396. The *Wurble-fly of the ox, scientifically known as Œstrus bovis.
1851–4. Tomlinson, Arts & Manuf., II. 30/1. Those [hides] which contain *warble or wurmal holes.
1886. Daily News, 5 May, 3/5. The two familiar *warble-lumps which may be felt on the back and loins of the … beasts affected. Ibid. The results of the presence of the *warble-maggots … is a general derangement of health.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 1188. *Warble tumours arising upon the backs or sides of horses.
