DCHP-1 Online

ducent Cdn French, Obs.

• n. the crewman of a canoe or York boat whose position is in the bow.

  See also: bowsman  devant  York boat  

  • 1800  (1897)  Jacques Barbé: Voyageur, bowman (ducent).
  • 1810  (1897)  At daybreak two canoes set off for the Columbia. The first contained: Delcour, ducent; Methode, guide; Delcour and Roberge, middlemen. . . .
  • 1931  [There was] a still larger paddle, which the bowsman or foreman (avant de cant, devant, or ducent ) employed when running rapids or leaping small falls.