DCHP-1 Online

smoke

• 1 n. a fire which gives off dense, acrid smoke from having damp moss, green grass or leaves, etc. heaped on its flames.

  See also: smudge  (def. 1)  

  • 1689  (1929)  [There was] abundance of Musketers & at night could not gett wood Enough for to make a smoke to Clear y^m. . . .
  • 1717  (1932)  The Musketos was so thick . . . they was forc'd to make a Great Smoke as they could hardly fetch thare breath's. . . .
  • 1849  In the evening the mosquitoes were excessively annoying till we made "smokes" with wet moss.
  • 1872  (1883)  My host "made a smoke" and the cattle came close around.

• 2 n. a column of smoke from a dampened fire, intended as a signal or taken as a sign of the presence of other men.

  See also: smoke talk  signal fire   

  • 1717  (1932)  Our Indian Tells me that he did see a Great Smoke to the Norward.
  • 1858  (1860)  Once or twice "smokes," which, from their being soon answered in another quarter, we presumed to be signals, and might be raised by the Blackfeet in the distant prairies, appeared on the west side of the river.
  • 1954  They thought now that he must be somewhere ahead of them, but they never could find him though they did their best, making big smokes and firing rifles from time to time.

• 3a n. a rest period between spells of travelling.

  See also: pipe ((1)) (def. 2)  

  • 1869  (1942)  Smoke [is] A canoe man's resting spell.

• 3b n. a spell of travelling or rowing between rest periods at which a pipe was smoked; the distance that could be travelled in such a spell.

  See also: pipe ((1)) (def. 1)  

  • 1875  (1922)  I said to one of the men, "How far have we to go now?" He considered solemnly for a few moments and then said, "Five smokes."

• 3c n. a space of time.

  See also: pipe ((1)) (def. 3)  

  • 1921  Then the brigade would paddle incessantly for about two hours; then they would "spell," and paddles were laid aside "one smoke."
  • 1929  We separated a little, however, so that all should not be killed at once. To go the distance took us many smokes.

• 4 n. a drift of smoke seen at a distance as evidence of a forest fire.

  See also: smoke drift   

  • 1963  [The lookouts] are manned 24 hours a day during the fire season, have two-way radios or telephones, a fire-finder for obtaining-a bearing on a "smoke". . . .