travois

[ truh-voi ]

/ trəˈvɔɪ /

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noun, plural tra·vois

[truh-voiz]. /trəˈvɔɪz/.

a transport device, formerly used by the Plains Indians, consisting of two poles joined by a frame and drawn by an animal.

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Origin of travois

1840–50; Americanism;pseudo-French spelling of earlier travoy<North American French; compare Canadian French travail shaft of a cart to which the horse is hitched, French: frame in which unruly horses are held while they are shod (probably <Late Latin trepālium;see travail)

Words nearby travois

traverse jury, traverse rod, travertine, travesty, Travis, travois, travolator, trawl, trawler, tray, tray agriculture

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use travois in a sentence

Now our worldly goods were increasing, so I cut down two lodge poles and made a little travois for the dog.
The Way of a Man|Emerson Hough
Travois were loaded with household goods, or carried women too old and children too young to walk or ride horseback.
South from Hudson Bay|E. C. [Ethel Claire] Brill
These Indians have a large number of ugly dogs, and sometimes they hitch them to their travois.
Harper's Young People, April 20, 1880|Various
She snatched him off the travois, but he struggled out of her arms to look upon his dog lovingly and admiringly.
Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains|[AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman

The youthful Gall was in a travois, a basket mounted on trailing poles and harnessed to the sides of the animal.
Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains|[AKA Ohiyesa], Charles A. Eastman

British Dictionary definitions for travois

travois

/ (trəˈvɔɪ) /

noun plural -vois (-ˈvɔɪz)

a sled formerly used by the Plains Indians of North America, consisting of two poles joined by a frame and dragged by an animal

Canadian a similar sled used for dragging logs

Word Origin for travois

from Canadian French, from French travail trave

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