DCHP-1 Online

runner ((1)) 1

• 1a † n. one of two longitudinal pieces on which a sled or sleigh glides over the snow or ice.

  See also: sleigh runner   sleigh shoe   

  • 1788  In every other part of America, sleighs and sleds are otherwise constructed, the runners are from nine to twelve inches high and are drawn by cross bars or hooks made fast to the upper part of the runners.
  • 1829  . . . we observed on Saturday a skiff fixed on runners coming from Long Island.
  • 1965  The caribou provided the interior people with . . . bone and antler to shoe the wooden sled runners. . . .

• 1b † n. Hist. a light, fast sleigh, often used in racing.

  • 1836  (1935)  By 8 a.m. each man had his runner laden with something less than a hundred pounds' weight. . . .
  • 1898  But he left behind him his 'runners.' He had not yet thrown up the game.

• 2a n. Hist. a horse or pony trained for hunting buffalo.

  See also: buffalo runner (def. 1)  run ((v.)) (def. 2)  

  • 1810  (1897)  I had purchased another horse from him for 20 pints of liquor; this was a runner.
  • 1849  (1932)  The "runner" is tended with all the care which a cavalier of old bestowed on his war steed. . . .
  • 1955  With the passing of the buffalo, the days of the runner were also numbered.

• 2b n. Hist. a mounted man, especially a Métis, who took part in a buffalo run (def. 1).

  See also: buffalo run (def. 1)  buffalo runner (def. 2)  run ((v.)) (def. 2)  

  • 1858  (1863)  Breakfast finished, our "runners" saddled and mounted. . . .
  • 1862  In these expeditions the "runners"--ie. a select band of the best equipped, best-mounted, most experienced and most daring horsemen--are of course the only ones in danger. . . .

• 3 n. a man on snowshoes who runs ahead of a dog team making a passable track in new or deep snow.

  See also: forerunner  run ((v.)) (def. 5)  

  • 1867  The man was a famous runner . . . despite the disadvantage of small tripping snow-shoes. . . .
  • 1921  The "runner's" duty is to travel in front of the dogs picking out and breaking the trail. It is also his duty to clear away with an axe any trees which may have been blown across the road.
  • 1934  There was also Donald Flett, a wonderful runner and a dog-driver of renown.