picket-pinn.

1844 J. H. Carleton Prairie Logbks. 12 Aug. (1983) 11 One end..is fastened in the halter, the other into a ring attached to an iron picket pin some fourteen inches long, which the dragoon forces into the ground with his foot.

1848 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 719/2 She [sc. a mule]..was standing lazily over her picket pin.

1859 R. B. Marcy Prairie Traveler iii. 91 The picket-pins, of iron, fifteen inches long, with ring and swivel at top.

1896 J. Maclean Canad. Savage Folk ii. 249 Fastened to the horn of the saddle was a small axe, frying-pan, rifle, lariat and picket-pin.

1943 Lincoln Nebraska State Jrnl. 23 Nov. 8/1 If the tent isn't made fast with ropes and picket pins, the wind may blow it down.

2000 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 30 June 22 I would tag along as Kathy put the ponies on their picket pins.

1893 V. Bailey Prairie Ground Squirrels 32 The little Striped Spermophile..is seen standing upright on its hind feet, straight and motionless as a stick... At a little distance it is impossible to distinguish it from an old picket pin or tent stake.]

1901 E. T. Seton Lives of Hunted 214 The darling ambition of his life..was to catch one of the Picket-pin Gophers... These little animals have a trick of sitting bolt upright on their hind legs, with their paws held close in, so that at a distance they look exactly like picket-pins.

1947 V. H. Cahalane Mammals N. Amer. 342 They spend a great deal of time sitting straight up on their haunches, their backs and necks as straight as ramrods. For this reason they are often called ‘picket pins’.

1980 J. O. Whitaker Audubon Soc. Field Guide N. Amer. Mammals 371 Ground squirrels, prairie dogs, the Woodchuck, and marmots are all sometimes called ‘picket pins’ because of the way they sit bolt upright to survey their domain.

2002 Canad. Geogr. (Nexis) Aug. 40 He saw a continuous duel between these little ‘picket-pins’ and a cunning predator that employs stealth and surprise to catch its watchful prey.