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Mackinaw
[< Cdn F mackinac < Ojibwa; see 1761 quote]
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Spelling variants:mackinaw
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1n.
a heavily napped and felted woollen cloth from which blankets and articles of clothing are made, nowadays usually of plaid design.
See: mackinaws
Quotations
1761
[The land, in the centre of this island, is high, and its form somewhat resembles that of a turtle's back. Mackinac, or Mickinac, signifies turtle, and michi(mishi), or missi, signifies great, as it does also several, or many. The common interpretation, of the word Michilimackinac is the Great Turtle.]
1841
They have also a large assortment of Blankets . . . of the real Mackinaw, assorted from 2 to 3 points to suit the Indian trade.
1896
Oh! Their Mackinaw garments are wooly and wet,/Their gunny-sack leggings are smelly, and yet/We admire them; not for their beauty you bet!
1910
He was dressed in mackinaw, and wore a fur cap with drooping ear-flaps.
1964
By 1934 William M., a third generation Humphrey, was operating the mill and producing a large red and black check design for Mackinaw or cruiser cloth. Three grades of Canadian wool, fine, medium and coarse, called "one-half," "three-eights" and "quarter blood" respectively, were used in its manufacture.
2n.
a blanket of Mackinaw (def. 1).
See: Mackinaw blanket(def. 2)
Quotations
1854
"I soon toort o' a dodge, an' went back to camp for my blanket, which wur a red mackinaw."
1909
We built our boats and we launched them. Never had been such a fleet ;/ A packing-case for a bottom, a mackinaw for a sheet.
3an. — Hist.
a heavy, flat-bottomed freight boat. [See picture at York boat.]
Quotations
1891
In winter travellers are confined solely to the use of dogs, and in summer time to boats--York or inland boats of the style of the McKinnaw build.
1908
The boats of the English traders from Hudson Bay were ponderously clumsy, almost as large as the Mackinaws.
1915
The rather barge-like 'Mackinaw' . . . was a useful but humdrum cargo boat, laboriously poled along shallow, quiet waters, or rowed with lumbering sweeps; or sometimes even sailed, when it shovelled its way through the water with a very safe wind dead aft.
1960
A mackinaw is a kind of bateau or flatboat used by traders.
3bn. — Hist.
a schooner-rigged boat formerly in use on the Great Lakes.
See: Mackinaw boat(def. 2)
Quotations
1923
The journey was made in mackinaws,--open boats with a schooner rig, and the sugar was carried in mococks,--containers made of birch bark, each holding from twenty to thirty pounds.
1958
That is why the fishermen of the old schooner and mackinaw days loved Tobermory.
4n.
a short belted coat made of Mackinaw (def. 1).
Quotations
1913
A mackinaw is a short, rough coat of material much like a grey horse blanket. It is worn by most lumberjacks, explorers, miners and woodsmen in the regions north of the great Canadian lakes.
1965
I . . . put on a mackinaw and a fur cap and took a turn down to the RR track and back. . . .
5n.
(in euphemistic exclamations) See quotes.
Quotations
1927
"By the holy mackinaw, if we don't hit her, I ain't goin' to see that kid lose a cent, if I have to work my fingers to the bone to get it!"
1954
Now, by the holy mackinaw, was the time to lay on that paddle as never before!