DCHP-1 Online

split

• 1 adj. Fur Trade, Obs. of skins, removed by slitting along the underside and down each leg so as to be cured by stretching flat.

  See also: open ((adj.)) (def. 1)  split-skin  split-skinning  

  • 1776  (1954)  . . . their Furrs are generally Beaver & Split Cats with a few Wolves & Martin's.
  • 1921  All split skins are stretched on rectangular frames--all save beaver skins which are stretched on oval frames

• 2 adj. of logs, roughly split with an axe to form building timbers, planks, fence rails, etc.

  • 1829  The mail coac hes or waggons are often in this predicament, when the passengers instantly jump off, and having obtained split rails of the fence, they lift it up by sheer force.
  • 1962  So while we . . . gathered spruce boughs to lay on a corner of the split-pine floor for a bed, I told Bill what I was up to.

• 3 adj. of fish, split along the belly from head to tail, gutted and ready for salting.

  • 1890  Always "high line," he was always the first "filled up" with the split mackerel of the North Bay.