coureur de bois

[koo-rœr duh bwah]

noun

French.

plural

coureurs de bois 

1. a French or French-Indian trapper of North America, especially of Canada.

coureur de bois

/ kurœr də bwa /

noun

1. Canadian history a French Canadian woodsman or Métis who traded with Indians for furs

Word History and Origins

Origin of coureur de bois¹

Literally, “runner, hunter of (the) woods”

Word History and Origins

Origin of coureur de bois¹

Canadian French: trapper (literally: wood-runner)

Example Sentences

La Salle was a coureur de bois, most of this time, for he operated in a field far larger than that for which he had a license.

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The matter will be discussed in the following chapter; meanwhile let us briefly note the further development of the coureur de bois question to the end of Frontenac's first administration.

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It took the barbarous coureur de bois to see through the paint!

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A French coureur de bois, whose tragic death forms the subject of one of the popular chansons of Quebec.

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The statement made in a previous chapter that Rene d’Amours was unmarried and lived the life of a typical “coureur de bois” is incorrect.

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