DCHP-1 Online

toggy [miskotaki coat; perhaps influenced in early use by older cant toge(man), ult. < L toga cloak, loose coat] Fur Trade, Hist.

• n. a calf-length greatcoat of skins, usually beaver, worn by Indians and traders in the Hudson Bay country. Also spelled tockey and toggey.

  See also: beaver coat  beaver tockey  

  • 1743  (1949)  All the Indians was gone for their Winter Quarters Except some women who I Keep for to Dress beavr. for tockey's for their own use. . . .
  • 1774, 1795  This day I gave each of the People a Dresst Moose Skin to mak them a Toggey for the Winter.
  • 1821  (1900)  I painted leather Toggy with Porcupine Epaulets and trimmed with the Otter Skin.
  • 1957  Coat beaver--supple, greasy skins worn as "toggies" by Indians--were the kind preferred by hat makers.