DCHP-1 Online

beaver

• 1 † n. an aquatic rodent, Castor canadensis, of North America, formerly of first importance in the fur trade and long used as an emblem of Canada.

  • 1584  (1877)  He broughte home a kind of mynerall matter supposed to holde silver, whereof he gave me some; a kynde of musk called castor; divers beastes skynnes, as bevers, otters . . . all dressed, and painted on the innerside with divers excellent colours. . . .
  • 1962  The exhibition should give them a better idea of what besides beavers, Mounties and snowfields makes up Ca-na-da.

• 2 † n. the flesh of the beaver as food.

  • 1754  (1907)  I was invited to a Beaver feast.
  • 1963  for every [recipe for] roast rabbit . . . there is another for boiled bulrushes . . . fiddleheads (ferns) au gratin, palpation of pigeons or beaver stew.

• 3 † n. the pelt of the beaver.

  See also: beaver skin (def. 1)  

  • 1583  Beaver became in demand in Europe when hat-makers realized its value for their craft.
  • 1671  (1942)  Ordered That upon the first Tuesday in december next about three thousand poundes weight of the bever bee putt to Sale by the candle. . . .
  • 1899  The beaver thus received by the chief trader and stored at the factory . . . was classified into eight varieties.

• 4 n. Fur Trade, Hist. a unit of exchange equilent to the value of one prime beaver pelt, used in buying furs and bartering provisions, more usually referred to be trappers as a skin (def. 1).

  See also: made beaver (def. 1)  skin (def. 1)  

  • 1708  (1957)  One with the other 10 good Skins; that is, Winter Beaver; 12 Skins of the biggest sort, 10 for the mean, and 8 for the smallest.
  • 1765  (1901)  It is in beaver that accounts are kept at Michilimackinac. . . .
  • 1852  To be accounted a chief among the Kutchin, a man must possess beads to the amount of 200 beavers.
  • 1957  Kettles . . . sold for one beaver a pound in the earliest list and one and one-half beaver at York Fort in 1715 and 1749.

• 5a n. Fur Trade, Hist. one of the coins or tokens constituting beaver currency.

  See also: beaver coin  beaver currency  beaverskin token  beaver token  H.B.C. token  Hudson's Bay token  made-beaver token  trade token  

  • 1908  If the hunt exceeded the debt, the Indian might draw either cash or goods to the full amount or let the Company stand in his debt, receiving coins made from the lead of melted tea chests with 1, 2, 3 or 4 B--beaver--stamped in the lead.
  • 1913  When the value [of the furs] is determined, the trader pushes over the counter as many "beaver" (lead pellets) as the furs are worth.

• 5b n. See quote.

  • 1931  Counters were threaded on a string, each worth a dollar, and called "beaver," and as the hunter sold his fur its equivalent in "beaver" counters was pushed along the string.

• 6 n. Slang, Obs. See quote; swamper (def. 1).

  See also: swamper (def. 1)  

  • 1913  Beaver, a man engaged on road-making near the lumber camps.