Rowel \Row"el\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Roweledor Rowelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Roweling or Rowelling.]

(Far.) To insert a rowel, or roll of hair or silk, into (as the flesh of a horse). --Mortimer.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Rowel \Row"el\, n. [OF. roele, rouele, properly, a little wheel, F. rouelle collop, slice, LL. rotella a little wheel, dim. of L. rota a wheel. See Roll, and cf. Rota.]

1. The little wheel of a spur, with sharp points.

With sounding whip, and rowels dyed in blood. --Cowper.

2. A little flat ring or wheel on horses' bits.

The iron rowels into frothy foam he bit. --Spenser.

3. (Far.) A roll of hair, silk, etc., passed through the flesh of horses, answering to a seton in human surgery.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)