DCHP-1 Online
lacrosse [< Cdn F la crosse < F "hooked stick"] 
1 n. a game originating among the Indians and played by two teams, the players passing a ball to each other on the run or throwing it at the opponents' goal by means of a lacrosse stick.
See also: baggataway box lacrosse cross ((1)) (def. 1) field lacrosse hurdle lacrosse stick
- 1791 [Playing at ball, which is a favourite game, is very fatiguing. The ball is about the size of a cricket ball, made of deer skin, and stuffed with hair; this is driven forwards and backwards with short sticks about two feet long, and broad at the end like a bat, worked like a racket, but with larger interstices: by this the ball is impelled, and from the elasticity of the racket, which is composed of deers' sinews, is thrown to a great distance: the game is played by two parties, and the contest lies in intercepting each other, and striking the ball into a goal, at the distance of about four hundred yards, at the extremity of which are placed two high poles, about the width of a wicket from each other; the victory consists in driving the ball between the poles. . . .]
- 1821 (1900) They were preparing to play the Game of de la Crosse or Baggatiway and had painted their Cheeks with Vermilion and their Bodies with the most fantastic colors.
- 1870 It is perhaps not generally known here that Lacrosse was imported into England a few years back, but beyond a few games played by a couple of Indian teams it had no success.
- 1956 In some tribes, the men played lacrosse, which is a native Indian game. Catlin, who visited the western Algonkians about 1830 to 1840, saw lacrosse games in which there were eight hundred or a thousand men on each side, the goals were as much as half a mile apart, and there were practically no side boundaries.
- 1965 It is refreshing . . . to discover that Indians are not altogether extinct from lacrosse, a game the Canadian aborigines played for its robust charm.
2 n. a stick hooked at one end and strung with leather thongs crosshatched by strings of gut to form a kind of pouch for carrying and throwing a ball in the game of lacrosse. See picture at lacrosse stick.
See also: lacrosse (def. 1) lacrosse stick
- 1763 (1901) Baggatiway, called by the Canadians, le jeu de la crosse, is played with a bat and ball. The bat is about four feet in length, curved, and terminating in a sort of racket.
- 1869 . . . he was received by the Committee, presented with an address, accompanied by a very handsome gold-mounted Lacrosse, and an elegantly bound copy of Mr. Beer's work on the game.
- 1906 [Advert.] More Lally's Lacrosses sold than all other makes combined.
- 1791 [Playing at ball, which is a favourite game, is very fatiguing. The ball is about the size of a cricket ball, made of deer skin, and stuffed with hair; this is driven forwards and backwards with short sticks about two feet long, and broad at the end like a bat, worked like a racket, but with larger interstices: by this the ball is impelled, and from the elasticity of the racket, which is composed of deers' sinews, is thrown to a great distance: the game is played by two parties, and the contest lies in intercepting each other, and striking the ball into a goal, at the distance of about four hundred yards, at the extremity of which are placed two high poles, about the width of a wicket from each other; the victory consists in driving the ball between the poles. . . .]