DCHP-3

embarras

[< Cdn F]
Obs. (except in place names)
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

n.

a tangle of logs and brush obstructing a stream.

Quotations

1793
In passing over one of the embarras, our dog . . . fell in. . . .
1808
. . . the first part of this Rivulet had water enough for us & plenty of beaver--the mid part full of embarras which took us much time to get a passage through. . . .
<i>c</i>1902
The greatest risk of travelling after dark during the spring floods arose from what the voyageurs called embarras--trees torn from the banks sticking in the soft bottom like derelicts to entangle the trapper's craft; but the embarras often befriended the solitary white man.