travois
Americannoun
noun
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a sled formerly used by the Plains Indians of North America, consisting of two poles joined by a frame and dragged by an animal
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a similar sled used for dragging logs
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of travois
1840–50; 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)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In particular, a scene where Captain Henry and his men strap Glass' immobilized body to a travois and try to drag it up a steep, snow-slicked cliff recalls Fitzcarraldo in miniature.
From The Verge ● Dec. 4, 2015
I was more than a little smug, trundling down the hill, helping to maneuver the weight of a full-grown buck on the travois we’d strapped together out of branches and sinew.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
The parfleche of tongues is packed on the travois.
From The Sun Dance of the Blackfoot Indians by Wissler, Clark
They were followed by the people of the clan, all clad in hairy skins, some accompanied by tame coyotes, or 105 dragging old-time travois.
From Indian Scout Talks A Guide for Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls by Eastman, Charles A.
It represents a small party of Indians, some walking, others mounted on horses, with several horse and dog travois.
From Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi by Bushnell, David Ives
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
