DCHP-1 Online

crackie cracky

• 1 n. Nfld and Maritimes any small, yapping dog, so-called by reason of its bark.

  • c1928  (1966)  There was . . . / Pig's feet, cat's meat, dumplings boiled in a sheet, / Dandelions and crackies' teeth at the Kelligrew's Soiree.
  • 1895  (1944)  Cracky--A small hybrid dog. 1895 E.Canada, N.B., N.S., Newfoundland 1921.
  • 1959  [Nfld] Figures of Speech [include] . . . Saucy as a crackie. . . .

• 2 n. an Indian hunting dog.

  See also: bear dog  

  • 1933  They [huskies] have none of the instinctive intelligence of the little Indian "cracky" dogs that look so small and useless, and are so valuable to a hunter.
  • 1956  . . . the yip-yi-yipping of a dozen "crackies," the small Indian hunting dogs tethered along the edge of the plateau.