DCHP-1 Online

catskinner [after mule-skinner]

• 1 n. See 1947 quote.

  See also: mule-skinner  skinner (def. 2)  

  • 1934  Crews were made up consisting of two drivers, or "cat skinners" as they were called, and two brakemen.
  • 1947  Mr. Boodleman . . . said that it was another kind of catskinner he was wanting, drivers for the big caterpillar tractors they use in the woods. They're called catskinners, just as teamsters are called muleskinners.
  • 1964  "I'm a catskinner," one man was saying. "Home is where I park my trailer.

• 2 n. the man in charge of a cat-train.

  See also: cat-train  

  • 1952  "Cats" and "catswings," "cat skinners" and "brakies" are all part of the fabulous transportation system of the Canadian north.
  • 1953  The cat-skinners, as the train bosses are called, like it when the temperature is between forty and sixty degrees below zero.