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beaver
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1†n.
an aquatic rodent, Castor canadensis, of North America, formerly of first importance in the fur trade and long used as an emblem of Canada.
Quotations
1584
He broughte home a kind of mynerall matter supposed to holde silver, whereof he gave me some; a kynde of musk called castor; divers beastes skynnes, as bevers, otters . . . all dressed, and painted on the innerside with divers excellent colours. . . .
1962
The exhibition should give them a better idea of what besides beavers, Mounties and snowfields makes up Ca-na-da.
2†n.
the flesh of the beaver as food.
Quotations
1754
I was invited to a Beaver feast.
1963
for every [recipe for] roast rabbit . . . there is another for boiled bulrushes . . . fiddleheads (ferns) au gratin, palpation of pigeons or beaver stew.
3†n.
the pelt of the beaver.
See: beaver skin(def. 1)
Quotations
1583
Beaver became in demand in Europe when hat-makers realized its value for their craft.
1671
Ordered That upon the first Tuesday in december next about three thousand poundes weight of the bever bee putt to Sale by the candle. . . .
1899
The beaver thus received by the chief trader and stored at the factory . . . was classified into eight varieties.
4n. — Fur Trade, Hist.
a unit of exchange equilent to the value of one prime beaver pelt, used in buying furs and bartering provisions, more usually referred to be trappers as a skin (def. 1).
Quotations
1708
One with the other 10 good Skins; that is, Winter Beaver; 12 Skins of the biggest sort, 10 for the mean, and 8 for the smallest.
1765
It is in beaver that accounts are kept at Michilimackinac. . . .
1852
To be accounted a chief among the Kutchin, a man must possess beads to the amount of 200 beavers.
1957
Kettles . . . sold for one beaver a pound in the earliest list and one and one-half beaver at York Fort in 1715 and 1749.
5an. — Fur Trade, Hist.
one of the coins or tokens constituting beaver currency.
See: beaver coin,beaver currency,beaverskin token,beaver token,H.B.C. token,Hudson's Bay token,made-beaver token,trade token
Quotations
1908
If the hunt exceeded the debt, the Indian might draw either cash or goods to the full amount or let the Company stand in his debt, receiving coins made from the lead of melted tea chests with 1, 2, 3 or 4 B--beaver--stamped in the lead.
1913
When the value [of the furs] is determined, the trader pushes over the counter as many "beaver" (lead pellets) as the furs are worth.
5bn.
See quote.
Quotations
1931
Counters were threaded on a string, each worth a dollar, and called "beaver," and as the hunter sold his fur its equivalent in "beaver" counters was pushed along the string.
6n. — Slang, Obs.
See quote; swamper (def. 1).
See: swamper(def. 1)
Quotations
1913
Beaver, a man engaged on road-making near the lumber camps.
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