snowshoe

[snoh-shoo]

noun

a contrivance that may be attached to the foot to enable the wearer to walk on deep snow without sinking, especially a light, racket-shaped frame across which is stretched a network of rawhide.

Indian yellow(def 1).

verb (used without object), snow·shoed, snow·shoe·ing.

to walk or travel on snowshoes.

Origin of snowshoe

An Americanism dating back to 1655–65; snow + shoe

Related formssnow·sho·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for snowshoe

Historical Examples of snowshoe

Just the same, I'd like to go to Snowshoe Island and visit him.
The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island
Edward Stratemeyer
And a snowshoe's the best help a man can have in the winter.
Home Life in Colonial Days
Alice Morse Earle
And even then they did not know that Antler had invented the snowshoe.
The Later Cave-Men
Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
Find a picture of a snowshoe, and tell how you think it was made.
The Later Cave-Men
Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
See if you can find out why the snowshoe keeps one from sinking in the snow.
The Later Cave-Men
Katharine Elizabeth Dopp

British Dictionary definitions for snowshoe

snowshoe

noun

a device to facilitate walking on snow, esp a racket-shaped frame with a network of thongs stretched across it

verb -shoes, -shoeing or -shoed

(intr) to walk or go using snowshoes

Derived Formssnowshoer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012