DCHP-1 Online

cutter

• 1 † n. a low, light one-horse sleigh having an upholstered seat.

  See also: sleigh-cutter  

  • 1826  (1832)  A sleigh is drawn by two horses abreast, here called a "span"; a cutter is drawn by one horse.
  • 1849  Twice a week we had sleigh meets, when curricles, and tandem, and cutters, or sleighs of one horse power, turned out with steeds gaily decked with party-coloured streamers, and alive with bells.
  • 1948  . . . Jake [was] fast asleep in the arms of Bacchus, with his horse and cutter, stranded in a fence corner by the side of the road.
  • 1966  The six, square-timbered barns . . . [contain] a museum of pioneer equipment -- cutters, wagons, broad axes . . .

• 2 n. Esp. West a low two-horse sleigh having narrow runners and, usually, a front and back seat.

  • 1920  . . . as he spoke the "off" horse suddenly slipped and fell, and, plunging to its feet again, a leg slid over the cutter's tongue.
  • 1934  . . . with a team and cutter, fur robes, hot stones at her feet . . . their continued journey had been warm and comfortable by comparison.
  • 1960  . . . my trip of twenty-two miles was made by team and cutter.