DCHP-1 Online

dog-train

• 1 n. a dog-sled and the dog-team together.

  See also: dog traineau  train ((2)) (def. 1c)  

  • 1793  (1889)  Five men, five loaded horses and five dog trains started with goods for Mr. Grant's. . . .
  • 1875  Instances are known of men and dog-trains having been completely buried by such storms for several days, and who yet came out alive.
  • 1960  John acquired a fine train of sleigh dogs, and a dozen dog trains swung off down the ice of the Saskatchewan River. . . .

• 2 n. Obs. a sled drawn by a team of dogs.

  See also: dog-sled  

  • 1854  Their travelling in summer is performed by water, in winter by dog-trains called "commetteks."

• 3 n. a number of sled dogs (2 to 20) hitched to a sled or toboggan.

  See also: dog-team  

  • 1836  We saw one youngster carioling behind a horse and another driving a dog-train.
  • 1913  Voudrin, with the dog-train and sledge, was already ashore on the beach. . . .
  • 1938  The interpreter and dog driver had carried the body of the murdered man back to the carryall and, with the dog train, had disappeared around a bend in the river.

• 4 n. a number of dog-teams and sleds forming a brigade that moves in single file.

  See also: dog brigade  train ((3)) (def. 1a)  

  • 1872  (1883)  During five days our course lay through vast expanses of stiff frozen reeds, whose corn-like stalks rattled harshly against the parchment sides of the cariole as the dog-trains wound along through their snow-covered roots.
  • 1913  Arrangements had been made, however, to send a great dog-train of ten sledges north, loaded with supplies, that the hunters might replenish their failing stores.
  • 1963  . . . after freeze-up the canoe routes are followed by dog trains.