DCHP-1 Online

sleigh ((n.)) † [< Am.E < Du. slee (< slede)]

• 1 n. a winter vehicle on runners, drawn by horses or oxen and used for work or pleasure.

  • 1764  Every Owner . . . of any Sled or Slay, used either for the Carriage of Goods or Persons, shall cause at least Six Horse Bells to be affixed to the Horse Harness. . . .
  • 1831  (1953)  . . . the others being cleared away, the oxen and sleigh can ply without difficulty.
  • 1957  First I drove an unloaded sleigh ahead to break trail, then a loaded sleigh or two, and finally the cattle.

• 2 n. a sled drawn by a team of dogs. [See picture at dog sled.]

  See also: dog-sled (and picture)  

  • 1845  Being frozen in we were obliged to take dogs and sleighs for Fort Asiniboe, where they arrived the 4th of December. . . .
  • 1948  If there is only one tent, it would have to be pitched every night, struck every morning and hauled around on the sleigh all day.

• 3a n. a small sled pulled by hand.

  See also: handsled  handsleigh (def. 1)  

  • 1791  (1934)  I very fortunately fell into a fresh sleigh track which I supposed to belong to the woman & the boy particularly as I could see only the footsteps of two people.
  • 1811  (1950)  Showers of Snow--made a small Slays & hauled the Goods full 2 1/2 miles. . . .
  • 1913  With remarkable ingenuity, he fashioned a small sleigh, some four or five feet long.

• 3b n. a small sled used by children for coasting.

  See also: coaster ((1))  handsled  handsleigh (def. 2)  

  • 1805  . . . the practice of Sliding on small sleighs and skaits in the streets of this city in the winter season is found to be extremely dangerous to passengers and a very great nuisance. . . .
  • 1837  Allow me to call the attention of the Magistrates to the danger pedestrians are exposed to from the practice of boys riding down the streets with such velocity on sleighs.
  • 1852  All his spare time he spent in making little sleighs and toys for her, or in dragging her in the said sleighs up and down the steep hills in front of the house, wrapped up in a blanket.
  • 1966  The Grand Prix sleigh . . . The sleigh that features the exclusive flexible steering. Constructed of heavy-gauge steel and select Canadian hardwoods.

• 4 n. a low sledlike contrivance, sometimes having shaped log-runners, used for removing stones from fields and for other heavy hauling. [See picture at stoneboat.]

  See also: stoneboat (and picture)  

  • 1902  (1957)  The usual mode of hauling water among the half breeds is to put a water barrel upon a sleigh, attach a team and drag the water home, as near the kitchen door as possible, where it stands until the supply is exhausted, when more is brought in the same way.