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lacrosse
[< Cdn F la crosse < F "hooked stick"]
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1n.
a game originating among the Indians and played by two teams, the players passing a ball to each other on the run or throwing it at the opponents' goal by means of a lacrosse stick.
Quotations
1791
[Playing at ball, which is a favourite game, is very fatiguing. The ball is about the size of a cricket ball, made of deer skin, and stuffed with hair; this is driven forwards and backwards with short sticks about two feet long, and broad at the end like a bat, worked like a racket, but with larger interstices: by this the ball is impelled, and from the elasticity of the racket, which is composed of deers' sinews, is thrown to a great distance: the game is played by two parties, and the contest lies in intercepting each other, and striking the ball into a goal, at the distance of about four hundred yards, at the extremity of which are placed two high poles, about the width of a wicket from each other; the victory consists in driving the ball between the poles. . . .]
1821
They were preparing to play the Game of de la Crosse or Baggatiway and had painted their Cheeks with Vermilion and their Bodies with the most fantastic colors.
1870
It is perhaps not generally known here that Lacrosse was imported into England a few years back, but beyond a few games played by a couple of Indian teams it had no success.
1956
In some tribes, the men played lacrosse, which is a native Indian game. Catlin, who visited the western Algonkians about 1830 to 1840, saw lacrosse games in which there were eight hundred or a thousand men on each side, the goals were as much as half a mile apart, and there were practically no side boundaries.
1965
It is refreshing . . . to discover that Indians are not altogether extinct from lacrosse, a game the Canadian aborigines played for its robust charm.
2n.
a stick hooked at one end and strung with leather thongs crosshatched by strings of gut to form a kind of pouch for carrying and throwing a ball in the game of lacrosse. See picture at lacrosse stick.
Quotations
1763
Baggatiway, called by the Canadians, le jeu de la crosse, is played with a bat and ball. The bat is about four feet in length, curved, and terminating in a sort of racket.
1869
. . . he was received by the Committee, presented with an address, accompanied by a very handsome gold-mounted Lacrosse, and an elegantly bound copy of Mr. Beer's work on the game.
1906
[Advert.] More Lally's Lacrosses sold than all other makes combined.