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traineau
[< Cdn F < F traineau sled ; cp. train2]
Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
1n.
a low runnerless sled used in early Quebec for hauling goods to market and for similar purposes.
Quotations
1791
I was amused by seeing several dogs of all sizes drawing traineaux or sleds with wood.
1845
The common country traineau, as used by the Habitans, is open to the same objection; and from the floor of the vehicle, if I may so express myself, being so close to the surface over which it passes the loose snow is driven before it in heaps, and the hillocks so formed are termed by the Native cahôts.
1903
Traineaux drawn by French ponies, and toboggans, loaded with furs and drawn by several dogs in tandem, were frequently seen in the streets [of Montreal]. . . .
1928
There was a certain disadvantage, too, in the traineau, where there was only room for one, while Jean walked or ran behind, guiding the dogs.
2n.
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. [See picture at cariole ((n.)).]
See: cariole ((n.))(def. 2a and picture)
Quotations
1820
We passed . . . Train Lake, which received its name from being the place where the traders procured the birch to make their sledges, or traineaux.
1888
The dogs which draw the traineaux are also fed with them, one dried fish being the daily allowance for each dog.
1931
At the tail of the gorgeous procession came . . . a dog team hitched to a luxuriously appointed traineau, driven by a Hudson's Bay trapper in all his glory.
1933
A traine or traineau in the Northwest was a sledge or sleigh about seven feet in length, the front end of which was turned up in a picturesque fashion to enable it to pass over bushes and low obstructions.