DCHP-2

logging DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1a n. — Hist.

  See quotes.

  See also: burning  chopping  fallow  improvement (def. 1)  log ((v.)) (def. 1)  log-rolling (def. 1a)  niggering  plan-heap  slashing  

  • The clearing of land in pioneer days involved at least three operations: the chopping down of trees and the removal of brush; the cutting of the trunks into lengths and the piling of the logs and brush; the burning of the log-heaps, q.v. The term logging was applied to either or both of the first two of these operations, but especially to the second. See burning, chopping, fallow, improvement, niggering, plan-heap, and slashing.

  • 1807  To be Sold . . . 16 acres chopped down and ready for logging.
  • 1833  (1953)  Before the house was ready for our reception, we had cleared twenty acres of the land for wheat, and during the successive operations of brushing, chopping, logging, burning and fencing--my father was obliged to hire workmen.
  • 1863  The logging can wait for a couple of months. . . .
  • 1898  They spent the days "logging" (felling the trees) and the nights burning.
  • 1963  In the absence of any mention in the use of the cross-cut saw in logging, it must be assumed that the trees . . . were almost always chopped into lengths, not sawn.

• 1b n. — Hist.

  a gathering of neighbors to clear land by logging.

  See also: logging bee  

  • 1905  The oxen, with a big chain dragging behind them, could be seen coming from different directions along the side-roads and concessions, and as many as a dozen yoke of oxen at a time might sometimes be seen at a "logging."
  • 1908  . . . there were few "bees," "loggings," or "raisings" at which [whisky] was not more freely dispensed than water, and there was a prevalent opinion that it was much more wholesome.

• 2 † n.

  the business or occupation of felling and sawing trees and of transporting them to sawmills, lumberyards, etc.

  See also: lumbering (def. 1 and note & def. 2)  

  • 1838  At home, the old winter work of chopping wood and logging for the supply of the lumberyard afforded me exercise.
  • 1883  Why it would . . . buy him a yoke of steers to do his "logging" for him. . . .
  • 1938  The reason Englishmen and Canadians often couldn't make money logging was because they expected to sit behind a glass-covered, mahogany desk in a city, wear good clothes and direct operations from afar.
  • 1966  . . . for several years, logging on Vancouver Island . . . has proceeded through the winter with few snow problems.