DCHP-1 Online
embarras [< Cdn F] Obs. (except in place names) 
n. a tangle of logs and brush obstructing a stream.
See also: driftpile
- c1902 The greatest risk of travelling after dark during the spring floods arose from what the voyageurs called embarras--trees torn from the banks sticking in the soft bottom like derelicts to entangle the trapper's craft; but the embarras often befriended the solitary white man.
- 1793 (1801) In passing over one of the embarras, our dog . . . fell in. . . .
- 1808 (1950) . . . the first part of this Rivulet had water enough for us & plenty of beaver--the mid part full of embarras which took us much time to get a passage through. . . .
- c1902 The greatest risk of travelling after dark during the spring floods arose from what the voyageurs called embarras--trees torn from the banks sticking in the soft bottom like derelicts to entangle the trapper's craft; but the embarras often befriended the solitary white man.