DCHP-2

sourdough Esp. Northwest DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1a n.

  fermenting dough, often a piece held over from a previous baking, used as a starter in baking bread, biscuits, etc.

  See also: sourdough starter  

  • Sourdough was a staple in the camps and cabins of prospectors and others during the gold-rush days in the Cariboo and the Klondike.

• 1b n.

  (used attributively) made of sourdough.

  See also: sourdough bread  

• 2a n. — Hist.

  a prospector or miner who crossed the White, Chilcoot, or Dyea passes into the Yukon gold-fields before 1898, so called because his staple was sourdough bread.

  See also: sourdough bread  

• 2b n.

  a prospector, especially an experienced one who spends a lot of time in the wilderness.

• 2c n.

  any old hand in the Yukon or the Northwest Territories; an old-timer, as opposed to a greenhorn, or cheechako.

  See also: cheechako ((n.))  

• 3 n.

  bread made with dough started with sourdough (def. la).

  See also: sourdough bread