DCHP-1 Online

robe [< Cdn F < F "ankle-length garment"]

• 1a n. Fur Trade, Hist. five to eight prime beaver skins, from which the guard hairs had been removed, sewn together to make a robe, worn by the Indians with the fur next to the body. The oil-impregnated fur (coat beaver) made excellent felt and was eagerly bought by the hat-makers.

  See also: beaver coat  

  • In early use, the term robe was current among the Montreal traders, a borrowing from the French Canadians, the Hudson's Bay Company usage being coat, blanket, etc.

  • 1794  (1929)  They bestow the best part of the Lodge covered with clean robes on a Stranger.
  • 1801  (1933)  A band of Stone Indians came here. they seem to have a few, very few Robes, or wolves. . . .
  • 1965  Natural wear and tear on the skin side of these [beaver] robes soon loosened the roots of the long guard hairs on the fur and they dropped out.

• 1b n. Fur Trade, Hist. See 1848 quote.

  See also: buffalo robe  

  • 1825  (1935)  Buffalo tongues, 9d. each; prime robes, 5s. each. . . .
  • 1848  (1859)  The hide of the bison,--or as it is called by the fur traders, the buffalo--when dressed on one side and the hair left on the other, is called a robe. Great numbers are sent to Canada, where they are used for sleigh wrappers in winter. In the Indian country they are often used instead of blankets.
  • 1860  I find that she has brought down over 200 tons of goods of every kind, and returned with 50 tons--mostly robes.
  • 1873  (1904)  Not less than 30,000 robes had already found their way to the Red River, and fully as many more in skins of parchment or in leather had been traded or consumed in the thousand wants of savage life.
  • 1934  There never was any progressive "extermination" in Canada for robes alone, in the way that there was in the United States.

• 2 n. similarly prepared hides or pelts of other animals, especially when used as a wrap or covering.

  • 1897  I produced a telescope, a jack-knife, and an old shirt, and offered them for the three remaining [muskox] robes.
  • 1904  . . . and over the broad, low seat were blankets with one heavy bearskin robe.
  • 1934  . . . with a team and cutter, fur robes, hot stones at her feet . . . their continued journey had been warm and comfortable by comparison.