Definition of "travois"

travois

/tɹəˈvɔɪ/

noun
plural travoises or travois
1. (originally and chiefly Canada, US, historical) A frame, often consisting of two poles tied together at one end to form a V-shaped structure with the vertex attached to a dog, horse, etc., or held by a person and the other ends touching the ground, which was used by indigenous peoples (notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America) to drag loads over land.
  Quotations
  On the plains they will have horses dragging travoises, dogs with travoises, women and children loaded with impedimenta, […]
  1892, Julian Ralph, “‘Talking Musquash’: Concluding the Sketch of the History and Work of the Hudson Bay Company”, in On Canada’s Frontier […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], pages 236–237
  Riding out for wood he watched his shadow and the shadow of the horse and travois cross those palings tree by tree. Boyd rode in the travois holding the axe as if he'd keep guard over the word they'd gathered […]
  1994, Cormac McCarthy, chapter I, in The Crossing (The Border Trilogy; 2), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, page 5
2. (by extension)
  1. A similar piece of equipment used to transport something by dragging; especially a stretcher dragged by a horse, mule, etc., used to transport an ill or injured person.
  2. (Canada, US, forestry, archaic) A sled dragged by a horse or ox to transport logs, with one end of each log on the sled and the other end touching the ground.
verb
third-person singular simple present travoises, present participle travoising, simple past and past participle travoised
1. (transitive) To transport (someone or something) by means of a travois.
2. (intransitive, rare) To use a travois to transport a load.

Definition of "travois"

travois

noun

Quotations

verb