bidarka

American  

[bahy-dahr-kuh] / baɪˈdɑr kə /

Sometimes bidara or baidarka

noun

1. a sealskin boat used by primarily by the Alaskan Aleuts.

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bidarka British  

/ baɪˈdɑːkə /

noun

1. a canoe covered in animal skins, esp sealskin, used by the Inuit of Alaska

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Etymology

Origin of bidarka

First recorded in 1825–35; from Russian baĭdárka, equivalent to baĭdár(a) “kind of river craft” (apparently akin to baĭdák “river craft, barge,” Old Russian baidakŭ, bodakŭ, of obscure origin) + -ka diminutive suffix

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bidarka

To begin with, the frost that creates the ice clears the air of fog, and the steel-shod pole either sheers the bidarka off from the ice, or the ice off from the bidarka.

From Vikings of the Pacific The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut

When bidarka go, you take-um talk-talk paper, we give-um rifle.

From The Young Alaskans by Emerson Hough

With his own paddle in his left hand clinched against the rim of the bidarka hatch, the chief with his right hand slowly and deliberately raised the nogock and its slate-tipped harpoon.

From The Young Alaskans by Emerson Hough

After that all that Rob could tell was that he was in the bidarka speeding swiftly away from a churning mass of white water, in the middle of which a vast black form was rolling.

From The Young Alaskans by Emerson Hough

To George's inquiries they answered that their largest canoe was the three-holed bidarka on the cache outside.

From Pardners by Rex Ellingwood Beach

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