DCHP-2
snowhouse Arctic DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
THIS ENTRY MAY CONTAIN OUTDATED INFORMATION, TERMS and EXAMPLES
1 n.
a domed structure built of blocks of hard snow; an Eskimo snowhouse. [See picture at igloo.]
See also: igloo (meaning 1a)
- 1771 (1792) I looked at my traps down the river, and then proceeded to Lyon Head, where I visited my Indian friends in their snowhouse.
- 1819 The Esquimaux now began to build a snow-house about thirty paces from the beach.
- 1966 The Eskimos in the area [Boothia Peninsula] . . . stay in tents in the summer and snowhouses in the winter
2 n.
a building made of snow blocks and intended for communal gatherings.
See also: dance house singing house
- 1962 This kept up . . . until a large section of the snow house roof caved in from the heat of the gathering.
- 1964 At Pelly Bay . . . great snow houses are erected and the drummer goes to the middle of a stage. . . .
- 1771 (1792) I looked at my traps down the river, and then proceeded to Lyon Head, where I visited my Indian friends in their snowhouse.