DCHP-3

freighter†

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

1n.

a person engaged in the transporting of goods, especially in the North and, formerly, in the West.

Quotations

1859
Many of them . . . will not go as far as York, it's the Lower River that is the stumbling block for procuring freighters.
1860
The system on which the freighters deal with their trip men is, I believe, injurious both to the employed and the employer.
1908
Here . . . they sold the horses, and with the proceeds hired local freighters to carry them and their supplies to Peace River Crossing. . . .
1963
[Headline] Life In The North Was Good For Freighter And His Team.
2 — Nfld

a passenger or crew member on a coastal vessel.

Quotations

1905
The schooners take many passengers north in the spring. Such are called "freighters" on the coast; they are put ashore at such harbours as they elect, and, for passage for themselves, families, and gear, pay upon the return voyage twenty-five cents for every hundredweight of fish caught.
1964
Cruiser. John Eagan, 8 November, 1819. Member of the crew of a vessel engaged in local coastal transportation. . . . Other more modern synonyms are freighter, coaster, trader (but the last as a thorough misuse, as a trading vessel was a floating shop).
3

a large dog-sled used in the North for transporting supplies.

Quotations

1910
Also he saw the heavy freighters pulling down the main street and heading up the frozen Klondike. . . .
4†

a heavy wagon for carrying goods.

Quotations

1918
". . . I wuz a'sittin' up there on the freighter a'toting boxes and bales up over thet there mountain, my old black snake whip a'snappin' an' a'crackin'. . . ."
5

a large canoe (from 20 to 30 feet long), used for transporting goods, especially in the North.

Quotations

1928
Because his big twenty-foot freighter was overloaded and undermanned, he had been permitted to use an outboard motor--for the first time in his life.
1956
Travelling upstream and carrying an eighteen-foot freighter or a two-hundred-pound pack, the portage seems interminable; but the labor is less than poling the canoe up those eight miles of rapids.