DCHP-2

chalet < Canadian French chalet 'house in the mountains' < European French chalet 'house in the mountains' DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• 1 † n.

  a style of building derived from the traditional Swiss chalet.

  This meaning is not Canadian, but is shown here with Canadian attestations to contextualize meaning 2.

  • 1891  Near our standpoint on the plateau, a small picturesque little log chalet with wide eaves, rustic windows and a splendid fireplace within, is in progress of erection. 
  • 1911  The C.P.R. has a Chalet hotel in mind for Cameron Lake. That company will construct a trail up Mount Arrowsmith, and in the picturesque hilly district about this mountain a cabin or two. 
  • 1937  Montreal Executive Committee ordered today that the Union Jack be flown again at the Lookout atop Mount Royal instead of the St. Jean Baptiste Society flag, displayed there since St. Jean Baptiste Day, June 23. The keeper of the mountain chalet, instructed to fly the society's flag, interpreted the order to mean permanently, and has let the flag fly since. 
  • 1961  Laurentian resorts are well known. The Mont Gabriel Ski Area offers a choice of package vacations in eight hotels or motels, with the rate depending on accommodation chosen. Charges range from $3 per person per day, six people to a chalet in Model Auto Court to $99.50 per person per week, double occupancy, in the Mont Gabriel Club. 
  • 2013  It's easy to see why the house on Lucille Wheeler Cres. has become one of this small town's most famous addresses. The stone-and-wood chalet at the north end of the ski resort, near Blue Mountain Inn, is within an easy walk of the slopes, making its hot tub the end-of-day epicentre of a lot of laughs, and drinks. 

• 2 n. — Quebec, housing

  a vacation home.

  Type: 3. Semantic Change — While meaning 1 is frequently used across Canada it is not distinctly Canadian in the sense of the DCHP-2 typology (see Dollinger 2015c). However, in Quebec, specifically Montreal, chalet has undergone semantic change to refer to a home used during the summer period or holidays (see Boberg 2012: 500), most likely as a result of contact with Canadian French. According to Boberg (2005: 42), it is one of five major variants in Canada used to describe such a house, along with cabin and cottage. All variants are highly region specific. Boberg suggests that chalet arose as an alternate word for a vacation home because in Quebec cottage is used to describe a two-storey permanent residence.
  See also COD-2, s.v. "chalet" (3), which is marked "Cdn (Que.)".

  See also: camp (def. 3)  cottage  cottage country  bungalow  

  • 1985  Maheu, a friend of the Pouliot family, told the court he stood by helplessly as one of younger Pouliots fired a hunting rifle at the victims, who were lined up for their execution. He said they were shot in reprisal for alleged vandalism at the Pouliot family's chalet. 
  • 1994  On Tuesday, Surete du Quebec police came across the charred bodies of a man and woman they believe committed suicide in a deliberately set fire in the Morin Heights chalet, owned by ranking cult member Joseph Di Mambro, 70. The house is connected to an identical chalet rented by Solar Temple leader Luc Jouret. 
  • 2010  A few days before the landslide, Prefontaine had taken his daughters fishing at the family chalet on Lac Taureau, near the town of St. Michel des Saints in the upper Lanaudiere region north of the St. Lawrence River. 
  • 2014  Bain told court he lost $200,000 after investing in a ranch run by a "crook." He said he's trying to sell his house and chalet but can't get much for them because they've been vandalized.