DCHP-1 Online
wood-ranger 
1 n. Lumbering, Obs. See cruiser (def. 1) 1942 quote.
See also: cruiser (def. 1)
- 1842 The house of a person who was acting as a kind of wood ranger to the party was set fire to in the night and himself and family narrowly escaped perishing.
- 1891 An open space . . . presented itself to the keen eye of the woodranger traversing the trackless wastes of forest as a fine site for a lumber camp.
2 n. Fur Trade, Hist. an unlicensed trader who ranged the forest in search of furs.
See also: coureur de bois (def. 1)
- 1883 The inland voyageurs rejoiced in the name "coureurs des bois" or wood rangers, going as they did to Athabasca and the Rocky Mountains.
- 1905 The others . . . became the forerunners of the coureurs de bois, or wood rangers, who made the labours of the missionaries doubly difficult by their disorders and evil example.
- 1908 Taking on board one hundred and twenty woodrangers, Iberville sailed from Quebec on August 10, 1694.
- 1842 The house of a person who was acting as a kind of wood ranger to the party was set fire to in the night and himself and family narrowly escaped perishing.