DCHP-1 Online
balise ((n.)) [< Cdn F < F balise buoy, beacon] 
n. one of a series of evergreen shrubs set up as markers at intervals of about 30 feet to outline the edges of winter roads, ice-roads (def. 1), etc.
See also: ice-road (def. 1) balize ((n.))
- 1808 (1809) [They put up branches of trees on each side the new track, as a direction to others who wish to go that way. These they call des balises, or beacons.]
- 1824 . . . the snow storm and drift [render] almost invisible the balises or branched poles set up along the road. . . .
- 1897 We did [when sleighing] manage to strike a "balize," which nearly tore the sleeve out of the fur coat of one of the girls. . . .
- 1904 The municipal code deals with . . . winter roads--the line of which is marked by means of balizes of spruce or cedar. . . .
- 1808 (1809) [They put up branches of trees on each side the new track, as a direction to others who wish to go that way. These they call des balises, or beacons.]