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DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1n. — North
a train of sleighs or freight canoes, so called because they move, or swing, over a certain route in periodic trips.
See: swile
Quotations
1941
. . . it was the first mechanized swing to be seen here for ten years.
1943
As the swing of silent canoes glided downstream . . . the Indian guide stood erect in the bow. . . .
1956
He would build big thirty-horse barns for every day he would be on the road; he would put the freight through in swings.
2n. — North
a tractor-drawn train of sleds and cabooses (def. 5), the principal means of transporting freight, supplies, etc. in the Canadian North in winter.
Quotations
1941
Great amazement was shown by the Indians when the Armstrong and Low swing from Flin Flon arrived here [Lac du Brochet, Man.] in March.
1952
Six drivers, two brakemen and a cook make up the crew of a three-tractor "swing" which may be hauling eight or nine sleighs carrying some 100 tons of supplies.
1957
For the last three years the company has sent its swings over ice-covered lakes and snow-covered portages in temperatures often near 50 below zero.
1958
The train is called a "swing"; each swing consists of three or more tractors, each dragging four or five sleighs. One of the sleighs is used as a caboose for eating and sleeping.
3n. — West
a cowboy who rides well out to the side of a herd to keep the animals from spreading.
See: swing-out
Quotations
1961
"Weasel Tail, I says to him, you . . . herd 'em with a hundred drags behaind and two hundred swings to the side. . . ."