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berline
[< Cdn F, adapted from the name of a wheeled vehicle (a kind of sedan) < Berlin, Prussia]
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Spelling variants:berlin, burline
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1n. — Hist.
a rude winter vehicle improvised from a sled or toboggan by erecting a framework to provide a backrest and to support a wrap-around cover and roof, pulled by a horse or by dogs and first used by the French Canadians.
Quotations
1829
The Burline is the travelling sleigh of the Canadians; it is just large enough to hold two comfortably. . . . It is on low runners, and not easily upset; it has horns by which the driver balances it; it will glide over very rough roads and untrod snows.
1841
No cariole, train, berline, or other winter carriage . . . shall be used unless the horse or horses all be harnessed thereto on the manner above mentioned.
1955
The wealthy . . . rode majestically around in carioles while their ruder, poorer neighbors raced by in the habitant berlines.
2n. — North
in the North and Northwest, a light tobogganlike dog sled into which a single passenger or a load is laced securely, the dog-driver following behind.
Quotations
1896
I made an improvised, or what was termed a "Berlin," out of my wrapper and sled lashings. . . .
1938
By the simple expedient of erecting two cross-pieces at the rear of my toboggan to form a back-rest, and by utilizing the moose-skin wrapper for a cover, Nazie had succeeded in converting my sled into a berlin. . . .