DCHP-2

moose-yard DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1 n.

  a browsing area where a group of moose or deer in winter tread down the snow, remaining there for protection and warmth until the fodder within easy reach is exhausted.

  See also: moose camp  yard ((n.)) (def. 1a)  

  • 1846  (1955)  [The] guide told us we were at the place for stopping that night, and within two miles of the "Ravage," or moose-yard.
  • 1921  A moose yard is usually composed of a series of gutters from one foot to eighteen inches wide, intersecting one another at any distance from ten to fifty feet or more apart, and each gutter being punctured about every three feet with a post hole in which the moose steps as it walks.
  • 1946  Nathan plunged to join him and almost fell into a well-trodden moose-yard. It had been travelled that day

• 2 n. — Slang

  worthless or unproven mining claims.

  See also: moose pasture (def. 1a)  

  • 1910  "There ain't no silver in this God-forsaken corner of the earth, Pete! It's a mooseyard, that's what It is." Meekins growled.