mangeur de lard Cdn French, Fur Trade, Hist.
1 in early use, an engage of the North West Company who signed on to man the canoes plying between Montreal and the Grand Portage, so called because pork was the staple of their diet, as opposed to the pemmican and coarser foods endured by winterers and others who ventured into the interior. Also mangeur du lard.
See also: North West Company porkeater (def. 1a) engage
2 an inexperienced voyageur.
See also: porkeater (def. 1b)
3 Northwest the men employed in operating rafts and barges, as distinct from the trappers and canoemen, who considered themselves much higher in station.