Quintain, Whintain

An ancient tilting-block, used in a game or sport, once practised at marriages in Shropshire and some other counties in England. The sport consisted in running a tilt on horseback, against a quintain or thick plank, fixed in the ground. He that, by striking the plank, broke the greatest number of tilting-poles, and exhibited the greatest agility, gained the prize; which was formerly a peacock, but latterly a garland.