Definition of "cowskin" []

• Leather made from the hide of a cow or similar animal (noun)

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• "The cowskin is a kind of whip seldom seen in the northern states."
• "For the information of my readers, I must observe that a cowskin is a large whip, made like a riding whip, out of the hide of the hippopotamus, or sea-cow, and is proverbial for the severity of punishment it is capable of inflicting."
• "The phrase itself expresses this antipathy; and when applied by a negro to a white man is regarded by the latter as a dire insult, and usually procures for the imprudent black a scoring with the "cowskin," or a slight "rubbing down" with the "oil of hickory.""